The complex was built on the site of a former lead smelter and two years ago the city and the East Chicago Housing Authority ordered that more than 1,000 residents be relocated.

Residents and advocacy groups originally filed for intervention in 2016, arguing the EPA did not represent resident interests.

The city released a statement Thursday that placed blame on the federal government.

About 50 people attended Wednesday's public hearing on the plan to cleanup land in and around an East Chicago industrial site.

The EPA said Monday it issued two unilateral administrative orders for residential areas slated for cleanups in East Chicago's USS Lead Superfund site.

The Environmental Protection Agency will hold a public meeting in January.

The former DuPont site is not a Superfund, but is contaminated with lead and arsenic, as well as zinc and cadmium.

The lawsuit alleges the companies caused property loss, and the residents seek financial damages due to emotional distress.

Law enforcement agencies in the cities of Franklin, Jeffersonville, Lawrenceburg and East Chicago and Harrison County each received more than $11,000 in funding.

The NAACP hopes to replicate the program on a national scale, taking it to Florida, Colorado and Michigan next.