EPA grant awards $4 million for testing and cleanup of contaminated soil tied to former Paris waste transfer site

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded $4 million to the Bourbon County Fiscal Court for cleanup work tied to hazardous materials left by the former Paris Waste Transfer Station, WKYT reported on July 7, citing the Lexington Herald-Leader. The funding is intended to support testing and removal of contaminated soil at the property following demolition of the long-shuttered facility.

WKYT said the site included a demolished incinerator and waste transfer station that had operated close to homes in a predominantly Black neighborhood on Paris’s west side. For years, residents complained about black smoke, odors, and trash reportedly falling from trucks into yards. Those concerns were a central factor in community efforts to end operations and seek remediation after the facility was removed.

According to the report, residents began organizing in 2021, including community meetings led by Vanessa Logan, president of the Paris Westside Neighborhood Association, as they looked for ways to close the facility. The report also says a new waste transfer station was later built off the bypass, away from neighborhoods, addressing long-running concerns about siting and impacts on nearby residents.

Bourbon County Judge Executive Mike Williams told the Herald-Leader that remediation will take time. WKYT reported that Williams said the work would be done over several years and that, once the cleanup is completed, the land would be returned to the city of Paris. The timeline cited by Williams implies that the project will require phased site work rather than immediate completion.

The EPA grant is framed in the report as covering the next stage after demolition, focusing on the environmental testing and removal of contaminated soil. That sequence matters for public safety and future land use, because cleanup typically must establish what contaminants are present, determine their extent, and then remove or treat affected materials before the property can be repurposed.

While the facility has been demolished, the report indicates that community concerns did not end with demolition, because contaminated material can remain in soil even after buildings are removed. The county’s use of federal funds suggests that the remediation is expected to meet federal or federally aligned standards, with the testing results guiding what can be safely returned to productive use.

For residents, the funding and multi-year schedule mean continued monitoring during remediation and a longer wait before the site can be redeveloped. WKYT’s account also points to a structured path forward, with the county handling the grant-funded cleanup and the land transfer back to the city occurring after remediation is finished.