Get the Blueprint

Manufacturing NewsTEG DailyNovember 14, 2026

November 14, 2026 · Delaware County · Story 3 of 3

EPA Digs Up Lead From a Muncie Battery Plant That Closed in 1984

Daniel BurkePublished every day

EPA Region 5 crews began excavating lead-contaminated soil on November 12 at the former Stout Storage Battery site on West 8th Street in Muncie, along with two neighboring residential properties, with the work expected to wrap by spring. Stout made automotive lead-acid batteries there from 1968 to 1984 and discharged sulfuric-acid rinse water into unlined pits on site. Indiana's Brownfields Program sampled the property between 2023 and early 2025 and referred it to EPA after a 2024 investigation found lead levels above the federal government's residential threshold.

That threshold is the real story here. EPA cut its residential soil-lead screening level from 400 parts per million to 200 in January 2024, which roughly doubled the number of sites nationwide that now trigger a cleanup. Indiana is already running two other removals under that same standard: roughly 160 properties tied to the Federated Metals Superfund site in Whiting and Hammond, and an 84-yard removal finished last year near the former Exide Battery site in Logansport. The Muncie site's own 2024 investigation also flagged hexavalent chromium in the groundwater, which this soil-only cleanup doesn't touch. If IDEM or EPA later requires groundwater work on top of it, the site's path toward redevelopment, including a spot in the state's Shovel Ready pipeline where a nearby Delco Battery parcel is already further along, gets pushed well past this spring.

Impact
This cleanup is a direct downstream effect of EPA's January 2024 decision to cut the residential soil-lead screening level from 400 ppm to 200 ppm, which roughly doubled the number of sites nationwide now triggering removal actions, Indiana is already running parallel cleanups at the Federated Metals Superfund site in Whiting/Hammond (roughly 160 properties) and completed an 84-yard removal near the former Exide Battery site in Logansport in 2025 under the same standard. The ECIRPD's own 2024 site report also flagged hexavalent chromium in groundwater that this soil-only removal does not address, if IDEM or EPA later requires groundwater remediation, the site's path to redevelopment (and to the state's IEDC Shovel Ready Site pipeline, where the nearby Delco Battery Site A/B is already ahead) gets pushed well past spring.
Watch
Whether IDEM or EPA expands the scope to address the hexavalent chromium found in groundwater, and whether Stout advances toward IEDC Shovel Ready Site status once the soil cleanup finishes.
For the huddle

Do any of our current or legacy sites carry lead or chromium contamination that could now trigger EPA action under the tightened 200 ppm residential soil standard adopted in 2024?

If your facility or a legacy site you've inherited handled lead, lead-acid batteries, or similar heavy metals before the 1990s, the 200 parts-per-million residential standard adopted in 2024 is a lower bar than most operators have planned around, worth a soil records check now.

Sources

  1. Lead Cleanup Begins at Former Indiana Battery Plant · eponline.com

Earlier coverage

From the brief, November 14, 2026

  1. Simtra Opens $250M Bloomington Expansion, Plans 18 Filling Lines by 2027
  2. Power Up ETG Cuts Indiana's Wage Threshold to 10%
  3. EPA Digs Up Lead From a Muncie Battery Plant That Closed in 1984

The whole day’s brief →

This story

Delaware CountyPolicy Compliance

Related

Manufacturers Energy Grant Program

Free for Delaware County manufacturers

Delaware County manufacturers receive free, ongoing energy auditing and cost control that reduces their energy bills and keeps them low, month after month. Every line item checked and validated, every opportunity found comes with a step-by-step guide to capture it.

Claim your GrantCheck out the program

EDCs: sponsor this program and it carries your organization's name For economic developers →