The Associated Press

IRONTON - A former tar plant along the Ohio River will cost $8.5 million to $10.2 million to clean up, according to a proposed plan by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The 27-acre former tar plant area of the Allied Chemical and Ironton Coke site in southern Ohio was added in 1983, along with two other areas at the site, to the EPA's Superfund National Priorities List of locations that release or threaten to release hazardous substances, pollutants or contaminants.

Several plans to address tar plant contamination were developed by Honeywell, formerly Allied Chemical, and reviewed by the EPA regional office in Chicago. The office announced Monday it had proposed a plan and would receive public comment through Aug. 14.

Plans include covering contaminated soil with landfill cap, digging out a portion of polluted sediment in the Ohio River for disposal and covering remaining polluted sediment with a mix of sand, gravel and other materials, the EPA said.

Also planned are procedures aimed at protecting the public, future workers and wildlife to exposure following the cleanup.

Honeywell is to conduct the cleanup under government oversight, the EPA said.

The two other areas of the site, where industrial activity began in 1917, were cleaned in the mid-1990s.

The tar plant closed in 2000.