JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) — About 50 property owners who refused in the late 1990s to let the government remove lead-contaminated soil from their land will no longer have a choice in the matter.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has reached an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency that will permit the state agency to clean the lead from the properties.

In the late 1990s, the EPA spent nearly $30 million removing lead-contaminated soil from 2,500 residential yards in the Joplin area. Most yards were in northwest Joplin, where an EaglePicher Industries lead smelter had spewed lead into the air for decades.

About 50 property owners would not allow the clean up, even though their yards had levels of contamination high enough to cause lead poisoning in children.

Under the new agreement, the work will be done even without the property owner’s permission. The state agency hopes to first convince the property owners that it is in their interest and that of future generations to have the lead removed from their land.

However, if that doesn’t work, the EPA could seek an administrative order that would allow the work to proceed.

Letters were recently mailed to the property owners seeking permission to resample the yards. Samples taken from the yards in the late 1990s showed that some had lead levels exceeding 3,000 parts per million in the soil. The level at which remedial action is deemed necessary is 800 parts per million.

Mark Doolan, the EPA’s project manager for the cleanup, said the DNR will remove the soil from every yard with contamination levels above 1,200 parts per million.

“They will not be given a choice,” he said. “Whether they like it or not, we will obtain a unilateral order from the EPA. We’ll get a warrant, and we’ll show up with the sheriff if we have to.”

If the contamination is between 800 and 1,200 parts per million, a deed notice will be placed on the property’s title that will show that the yard’s soil is contaminated with lead.

Doolan said property owners might think “they have the right to live on contamination if they want to, but sooner or later someone else will own that property. We need to protect the future buyers of that property.”

Dennis Stinson, head of DNR’s Superfund section, said at least half of the property owners have responded to the letters and some have granted access. In other cases, some houses on the properties have been torn down.

As of now, the agency could be dealing with 47 yards but Stinson said it is too early to know exactly how many yards will be cleaned. The DNR plans to do the sampling this summer and the soil removal this fall, he said.

When the EPA removed the soil from the yards in the late 1990s, the state agreed to pay 10 percent of the cost, which is required under the federal Superfund law. Doolan said the state owed the EPA about $1.9 million for the 10 percent match, and will pay that debt by cleaning the remaining yards.

Information from: The Joplin Globe, http://www.joplinglobe.com

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