Former Mobil Oil site clean-up continues
LA CROSSE, Wis. — Progress continues to be made in the clean-up effort on the former Mobil Oil site in La Crosse.
Exxon Mobil has been working for the past few months to replace contaminated soil on the property along Copeland Avenue.
The company had to dig deeper than expected to clean the soil. That means the city planning department will be providing up to six feet of ground over, all of which will come from the Gundersen Lutheran construction and Western Technical College improvements at no charge to the city.
Eventually city officials hope to redevelop the 65 acres of waterfront land into commercial property.
“It’s probably going to take five years to implement a re-development of this magnitude,” City of La Crosse Planning Director Larry Kirch. “I think we should do the park and open space improvements first, and hopefully that will help us attract a developer.”
Kirch says the first step is to finish cleanup this summer. He hopes to have closure on the contamination with the DNR by summer of 2014.
