CHAMPION, Ohio (WKBN) – A big grant is coming to Trumbull County to clean up an environmental mess left behind at a former brick plant in Champion Township.

Last November we reported on the issues at the former Diversified Resources plant near the intersection of Routes 45 and 82. Left behind were 24,000 55-gallon drums filled with fine pieces of metal covered with petroleum.

The U.S. EPA has agreed to pay $1 million in clean-up costs. Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership will now hire a contractor to get the job done.

Matt Martin, from Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership, was optimistic about the cleanup.

“The location is really ideal for light industrial, manufacturing. There’s some leads that we have now on what the potential end use could be that we’re excited about. So I think anybody that is going to want to use that site is going to expect that it will be cleaned up,” expressed Martin.

The plan is to get the cleanup started early next year, after which, it could take two years to complete.