For Release: Friday, July 31, 2009
Bonide Chemical Removed from Superfund List
Cleanup Efforts Successful in Removing Threats to Public Health and Environment at Oneida County Site
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) today announced the official completion of the cleanup of the former Bonide Chemical site, which straddles the villages of New York Mills and Yorkville, Oneida County. With data showing that the site meets state health and environmental guidelines, DEC has removed the manufacturing site from the Registry of Inactive Hazardous Waste Disposal Sites, also known as the State Superfund Registry.
"This site joins the growing list of former and current commercial/industrial sites in the Mohawk valley that have been successfully cleaned up and removed from the state's list of inactive hazardous waste disposal sites," said DEC Regional Director Judy Drabicki.
The former Bonide Chemical Corporation facility is located at 2 Wurz Drive in the villages of New York Mills and Yorkville. The successful remediation included digging out and off-site disposal of contaminated soil, plus recovery and treatment of groundwater. These actions have removed source contamination and have restored groundwater to acceptable standards.
The site is currently occupied by a light manufacturing company that makes various parts for the bus industry and is comprised of several parking lots for employees and shipping, the main manufacturing facility, storage facilities and office space.
"As the former mayor of Rome, a city with federally-designated Superfund sites, I'm acutely aware of the need to resolve and rehabilitate the contamination issues surrounding such properties," said State Senator Joseph A. Griffo, "New York has one of the most organized and efficient remediation programs in the country. Today is the result of an effective partnership between state and municipal leaders to see that these sites are made fit again. I commend (DEC) Commissioner (Pete) Grannis and his agency directors, notably Regional Director Drabicki, Mayor (Robert) Maciol and his municipal workers, for seeing this through to its positive conclusion. While there's more to be done, we need to note the good work accomplished here."
"I am pleased that DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis and his staff have made the remediation of brownfields and the removal of sites from the Superfund list a priority," said Assemblywoman RoAnn M. Destito. "Many of these properties are located in urban areas where there is a shortage of land for expansion and redevelopment. This encourages economic development in the Mohawk Valley, and also permits the re-use of former industrial buildings and sites."
Robert Maciol, mayor of the village of New York Mills said: "The removal of this site from the registry is great news not only for New York Mills, but for the entire region as this site is now the home of Oriskany Manufacturing. They moved to this vacant property with 50 employees and are committed to creating 50 more jobs over the next five years. We now have a safe, clean, and productive piece of property within our village. This cleanup project should serve as a model throughout New York."
In 1986, five underground storage tanks, which contained various chemicals including xylene, ethylbenzene, and toluene, were found to be leaking into the ground at the site. In 1987, the tanks were removed as was contaminated soil surrounding the tanks. Subsequently, it was determined that the groundwater was also contaminated and New York State ordered Bonide to complete an investigation to determine the extent and severity of the contamination.
The selected cleanup option involved creating new collection trenches to intercept and collect contaminated groundwater, and pre-treat the contaminated groundwater before discharging it to the Oneida County wastewater treatment plant. The construction of this system was completed in 1992 and the groundwater recovery and treatment system was operated from 1992 until 2003. With the source of contamination removed the groundwater quality standards have been achieved.
Following extensive reviews of data collected following the cleanup activities, DEC and the New York State Department of Health agreed that the site no longer presents a threat to public health or the environment and completely removed the site from the Superfund Registry this
