CLARKSVILLE, Ind. (WHAS11) -- Tucked off Browns Station Way in Clarksville and hidden behind a row of trees is a place known as Graveyard Auto, and it doesn't take long to see how it got its name. The former automobile salvage yard is littered with twisted metal, piles of tires and other debris.
"It's a forgotten piece of town," Clarksville Redevelopment Commission Chair A.D. Stonecipher said.
The land may be hidden from view, but this 10.5-acre plot has caught the town's attention over and over again.
"The town has records of complaints, environmental concerns going back to the 1990s," Stonecipher, who also serves on the town council, said.
With cars and other auto parts leaking for decades coupled with the presence of illegal dumping over the years, the "No Trespassing" signs posted at the front gate aren't just warning unwanted visitors about dangers that can be seen.
"We found contamination in drums and also high levels of lead and arsenic in the soil," Shelley Lam, the EPA Region V on-scene coordinator, said. "Some of the drums that we found had flammable contents so there's a threat that those drums could have caught fire."
The property has fallen in disrepair but the town of Clarksville is looking to clean it up. The town has received a $1.5 million grant from the EPA, which has designated Graveyard Auto as a Superfund site and had crews begin working on the initial phase of the cleanup Tuesday, clearing out space so more equipment and workers can be brought out to the site.
"It costs a lot of money to do it and do it right, but the alternative to just continue and turn a blind eye means that it will cost more down the road," Stonecipher said.
The EPA has worked on similar cleanup projects in Kentuckiana. In the 1980s, the EPA launched an emergency cleanup of the Valley of the Drums in Bullitt County, which was one of the EPA's first Superfund sites. That cleanup took seven years, but this cleanup is expected to be much quicker, with the EPA estimating it will take six to eight weeks.
"In that case, you had I don't even know how many millions of drums that were abandoned, and that just takes a long time characterizing and disposing those drums," Lam said.
"We want to make sure that the ground is clean so that it can be enjoyed by future citizens and property owners and park-goers," Stonecipher said.
Stonecipher said the goal is to turn the property into a park, with the River Heritage Conservancy running the show, hoping to turn the forgotten land into a Clarksville landmark.
►Contact reporter Dennis Ting at dting@whas11.com. Follow him on Twitter (@DennisJTing) and Facebook.
►Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the WHAS11 News app now. For Apple or Android users.
Have a news tip? Email assign@whas11.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.