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Mercury Refining, Inc.
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EPA added the Mercury Refining, Inc., site on the border of the Towns of Colonie and Guilderland, New York (Albany County) to the Superfund National Priorities List on September 1, 1983 because of mercury in the groundwater, soil and sediments there. From 1956 to 1998, Mercury Refining, Inc., reclaimed mercury from batteries and other materials at the site. It lies in an industrial and commercial area and some 100,000 people live within three miles of the site. Water near the site is used for drinking water and recreation.
Site testing in the 1980s by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) found high levels of PCBs and mercury, both potentially harmful to human and wildlife health, in soils. The groundwater at the site is contaminated with mercury, though EPA determined that this contamination does not move off the site. Sediments in a tributary of Patroon Creek, which receives run-off from the Mercury Refining property, are also contaminated with mercury.
Under a CERCLA consent decree with New York State, Mercury Refining, Inc., remediated part of the site; it removed about 2,100 cubic yards of mercury-contaminated soil and debris and 300 cubic yards of PCB-laden soil. DEC also ordered the company to curtail future releases from the plant, cleanup additional contaminated soil, and monitor on-site soil and groundwater and off-site soil and stream sediments pursuant to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and New York state laws. At the request of the DEC, in 1999 EPA took over as the lead agency at the site and has performed a remedial investigation and feasibility study and is preparing to issue a proposed cleanup plan.
