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MARQUETTE -- Hazardous wood tar was found last year at the former Cliffs-Dow site in Marquette. The tar has since been removed, but contaminated soil remains. Cleanup reportedly carries a hefty price tag.

More than 800 cubic yards of contaminated soil were removed from the site last year.

The property was used for industrial purposes until 1968 by Cliffs Dow Chemical Company to produce charcoal, methanol and other chemicals. Wood tar was the by-product and has caused most of the contamination.

What remains now is the concern that groundwater containments will spread from the property into Lake Superior.

"At this point, we don't have any contamination leaving our site at all that are hazardous to humans," said Tom Anthos, owner of TriMedia, a environmental cleanup firm.

But, there are discharges to the lake above the Department of Environmental Quality regulatory criteria.

How the city will cleanup the site hasn't quite been answered.

At Monday's Marquette City Commission work session, continued excavation of the soil or even an underground barrier to prevent leakage were among the options discussed. Estimated price tags range from $50,000 to $1.5 million.

"There's a wide range of cleanup opportunities depending on the end use of the property," said Dennis Stachewicz, Director of Marquette's Planning and Community Development.

Currently, the plan is for the area to become a business park, but because the site is so close to the lake, leaders want the community to weigh in on what'd they like to see happen. For now, continued monitoring of the area has been suggested by environmental specialists.

"There are contaminates in the ground water, we know that over time they have significantly decreased, so we really can't pinpoint a timeline, but so far in the last 10 years, we have taken a giant step forward," Anthos said.