EPA to Begin Soil Cleanup at Ellenville Scrap Iron and Metal Superfund Site in Ulster County, N.Y.; EPA to Hold Public Meeting on May 11 to Discuss Work at Site (NY)
(New York, N.Y.) The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) today announced that it will begin to
excavate contaminated soil on the Ellenville Scrap Iron and Metal
Superfund site in Ellenville, N.Y and move it to the landfill on
the property. The landfill will then be securely capped to prevent
contaminants from leaching out of the landfill into the ground
water. The excavation of the soil, which is contaminated with
hazardous chemicals and metals, is the first part of a site cleanup
plan EPA selected in September 2010. Any of the excavated soil or
materials that are characterized as hazardous waste will be shipped
off-site for proper disposal. EPA will hold a public information
session on Wed., May 11 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Ellenville
Government Center at 2 Elting Court in the Village of Ellenville,
to discuss its work at the site.
“EPA is committed to cleaning up the
Ellenville Scrap Iron and Metal Superfund site,” said EPA
Regional Administrator Judith Enck. “Containing and isolating
contaminated soil at this site is important to protect people from
potential exposure to harmful contaminants and to protect the
underlying ground water.”
EPA will perform its work at the Ellenville site
in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the New
York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC). The
cleanup, which is expected to cost about $8 million, is being paid
for by EPA, with NYSDEC contributing 10 percent of the funding.
Cleanup work at the site is expected to be completed this fall. No
financially-viable potentially responsible parties exist to perform
or fund the cleanup of the Ellenville site.
EPA will excavate contaminated soil from six
different areas at the site, consolidate the soil on the landfill
portion of the site and then securely cap the landfill. EPA will
also install a series of additional wells to monitor ground water
around the site to make sure it remains free of
contaminants.
EPA added the Ellenville Scrap Iron Metal site
to the Superfund National Priorities List on October 7, 2002 after
hazardous chemicals were found in the soil there. The 24-acre site,
which was used for scrap metal operations from the 1950s until the
1990s, is divided into upper and lower portions by a landfill,
approximately 40 feet high. Soil samples at the site showed levels
of semi-volatile organic compounds and heavy metals.
From 1987 to 1998, the NYSDEC inspected the site
numerous times, conducted sampling and directed the owner to clean
up on-site debris. The Village of Ellenville also removed a large
number of tires from the site. During 2004 and 2005, EPA demolished
all of the buildings at the site, and disposed of waste oil tanks
and approximately 20 drums containing hazardous materials. In
addition, soil contaminated with lead was removed and disposed of
off-site.
In 2007, EPA began an investigation at the site
to determine the full nature and extent of contamination. The
results of the EPA investigation led to the selection of a cleanup
plan by EPA, in consultation with the public.
For a Google Earth aerial view of the Ellenville
Scrap Iron and Metal site, visit:
https://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/epa-region-2. (Please note that you must have Google Earth
installed on your computer to view the map. To download Google
Earth, visit https://earth.google.com/download-earth.html).
For more information about the site,
visit: https://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/epa-region-2.
Follow EPA Region 2 on Twitter at http://twitter.com/eparegion2 and visit our Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/eparegion2.