The state Department of Environmental Protection is studying its options for the continued cleanup of the former Franklin Glass site on Butler’s South Side.

In 2009, tests by the DEP on the soil on the banks of Coal Run for the placement of a bridge for the Freeport-Butler Community Trail found high levels of arsenic.

The DEP found the high levels to correspond with the Franklin Glass Co.’s former location where residential houses, Father Marinaro Park, and Butler County Housing Authority homes are now.

Franklin Glass, which burned down in the early 1970s, used several sites in the woods around Coal Run and what is now Kaufman Drive to store sand, other raw glass manufacturing materials, and waste.

Arsenic was used in glass production to eliminate bubbles in molten glass.

The DEP tested the land on the Kaufman Drive side of Coal Run and found only one area of contaminated soil that was removed in 2010 from the baseball field.

Freda Tarbell, DEP spokeswoman in the Meadville office, which oversees Butler County, said the department’s attention is focused on the stream bank to determine what type of cleanup, if any, is required and to make sure the bank is stable.

“This area is a high priority for the rails-to-trails project, so we are completing this process as quickly as possible and hope to have the study done by the end of the summer,” Tarbell said.