Sites in Reuse in New York
Click on the image above to see a larger map with site locations.
Applied Environmental Services
The 3.2-acre Applied Environmental Sciences Superfund site is located in Glenwood Landing, New York. Applied Environmental Services operated a chemical waste material blending facility and a hazardous waste storage facility on site, and recovered fuels from hazardous wastes at the site from 1980 to 1983. The facility included two one-story buildings, seven underground tanks and 11 aboveground tanks. Although workers removed the chemical tanks, spills, leaks and other activities contaminated site soil and ground water. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) and site owner Shore Realty removed waste from on-site drums and tanks in 1985 and 1986. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in June 1986. Immediate cleanup actions included drum and tank removals, fencing installation and liquid waste collection. Long-term cleanup actions included the installation of ground water and soil treatment systems. The site’s potentially responsible parties (PRPs) began soil and ground water treatment efforts in June 1995; the systems continue to operate today. The site is now in ecological reuse. It is home to a restored salt marsh, coastal shoreline and new habitat that support diverse salt marsh and coastal plant and animal species, including marsh vegetation, invertebrates, fish and birds.
Updated 1/2013
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Bethlehem Steel Corp./Lackawanna Plant
In Lackawanna, New York, 14 2.5-megawatt utility-scale turbines generate enough electricity to serve the needs of about 9,000 western New York homes. A steel production plant operated at the Bethlehem Steel Corp/Lackawanna Plant site from the early 1900s until the mid-1980s. Contamination from the steel plant’s activities made the facility subject to an EPA Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) investigation in the 1990s. Twenty years later, two energy companies, BQ Energy and UPC Wind, expressed interest in the site as a potential location for a wind farm. In 2006, EPA declared portions of the site cleaned up and safe for reuse. The companies worked closely with the Lackawanna City Council to obtain local approvals and conducted studies to ensure that the site could support wind facilities. By early 2007, construction had begun on eight windmills on a 30-acre portion of site. Known as Steel Winds, the project won the Phoenix Award as the largest urban wind farm in the United States and the first located on a former Superfund and industrial Brownfields site. Building on the successful development of Steel Winds, the City of Lackawanna decided to move a rail line to the site and extend new roads to facilitate the redevelopment of the surrounding 400-acre former industrial area along Lake Erie. In 2012, Steel Winds expanded the project to include six new turbines, which produce up to 15 megawatts in addition to the 20 megawatts produced by the original eight turbines.
Updated 1/2013
Forest Glen Mobile Home Subdivision
During the 1970s, illegal dumping of chemical wastes occurred at the 39-acre Forest Glen Mobile Home Subdivision Superfund site in Niagara Falls, New York. Site operators inadequately covered an 11-acre area of the site used for dumping with topsoil. From the mid-1970s to 1980s, a mobile home park occupied this area. In 1987, an EPA site assessment found soil and ground water contamination at the site. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1989. In 1990, permanent relocation of the 53 families who resided in the subdivision began. Cleanup activities included placement of a fence around the site to prevent access, excavation of contaminated soil, consolidation of contaminated soil in the former subdivision area and placement of a cap over the area. The site’s extraction system removes contaminated ground water from the site and then the Niagara Falls Waste Water Treatment Plant treats the water. The land use at the site changed in 1999 from residential to commercial and industrial. In 2003, redevelopment of the site took place with the construction of a 40,000 square foot commercial building over the cap. Today, the building operates as a distribution facility, employing three people full-time.
Updated 1/2013
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Gowanus Canal
The Gowanus Canal, a 100-foot wide, 1.8-mile long canal located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, borders several residential neighborhoods. Waterfront property next to the canal primarily consists of commercial and industrial uses, including concrete manufacturing plants, warehouses and parking lots. Since the 1860s, the Gowanus Canal has allowed industrial boat access through a tidal creek and wetland previously used for oyster fishing. The canal quickly turned into one of the nation’s busiest industrial waterways, home to heavy industry, including manufactured gas plants, coal yards, cement makers, soap makers, tanneries, paint and ink factories, machine shops, chemical plants and oil refineries. Operators of industrial facilities along the shore disposed of untreated industrial wastes in the canal. Raw sewage and surface water runoff deposited additional wastes in the canal for decades. The city built a "Flushing Tunnel" in 1911 to replace the stagnant water in the canal with fresh, oxygen-rich water that would improve water quality. The tunnel worked until the 1960s, when mechanical failure caused it to shut down. The city subsequently restored the Flushing Tunnel, which operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week, bringing fresh water into the canal. Tunnel operators shut down the Flushing Tunnel for repairs in 2010 and anticipate the tunnel will be functioning again by 2013. Although much of the industrial activity along the canal has stopped, high contaminant levels remain in canal sediments. The New York-New Jersey Estuary, which EPA has designated an Estuary of National Significance, includes the canal. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in March 2010. Investigations and cleanup activities continue at the site. During these efforts, a post-industrial waterfront tour at the Gowanus Canal site teaches participants about the history of the canal and surrounding area, including everything from historic landmarks to houseboats. Local residents also use the canal for recreational purposes, such as canoeing and kayaking.
Updated 1/2013
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Hiteman Leather
The Hiteman Leather Superfund site in the Village of West Winfield (the Village), New York operated as a tannery for over a century. However, the Hiteman Leather Company abandoned the property in 1968 after it failed to meet environmental standards. State and federal investigations between 1988 and 1996 found high levels of chromium and metals in a lagoon area, surrounding soils and river sediments. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1999. Cleanup activities included demolishing contaminated, structurally unsound buildings; fencing the property to restrict public access; completing excavation and on-site consolidation of contaminated soils and sediments; placing a soil cover over the site; and re-vegetating the lagoon area, riverbank and wetlands. After the Village voiced its interest in reuse, EPA awarded West Winfield a Superfund Redevelopment Pilot grant in 2001 to support the development of a Reuse Assessment Plan for the site. EPA worked to incorporate considerations put forth in the Reuse Assessment Plan into their cleanup actions. The Village hopes to redevelop the site in phases. Currently, the Village is constructing a much-needed sewer treatment system on part of the site to serve the downtown area. In the future, the Village plans to redevelop the site to house Village offices, a library, a police station, a senior citizens’ facility, soccer fields, nature trails, a fitness area and a swimming pool. EPA deleted the site from the NPL in 2012, and site stakeholders expect the deletion to encourage additional redevelopment activities.
Updated 1/2013
For more information:
- Hiteman Leather Reuse Success Story (PDF) (1 pg, 65K, About PDF)
- 2009 Return to Use Demonstration Project (PDF) (2 pp, 205K, About PDF)
- CERCLIS Superfund Site Profile
Kenmark Textile Corporation
The 5-acre Kenmark Textile Corp. Superfund site in East Farmingdale, New York has been home to several textile dying, printing and screening businesses since the early 1900s. Site operators, including the Kenmark Textile Corporation, and later the Susquehanna Textile Corporation, chemically treated wastewater generated in the production processes and discharged it to outdoor concrete-lined lagoons on site. The contaminated wastewater settled and evaporated before the operators placed residue in drums for off-site disposal. In 1979, the state issued a permit requiring Kenmark to treat its wastes properly, and discharge them into the municipal sewer system. In 1981, the Suffolk County Department of Health temporarily closed the company for illegally storing drums of hazardous waste. In 1986, EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL). Cleanup efforts including removing more than 50 drums containing hazardous waste and other visibly-contaminated materials from the site to ensure the safety of the public and the surrounding environment. In March 1994, EPA determined that no further action was necessary at the site. EPA deleted the site from the NPL on May 30, 1995, as it does not pose a threat to human health or the environment. A private home furnishings company, a general merchandise store, a full-service beverage company, a truck leasing company and a window and door installation company are now located and operating at the site.
Updated 1/2013
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Liberty Industrial Finishing
The 30-acre Liberty Industrial Finishing Superfund site is located in Oyster Bay, New York. Beginning in the early 1930s, an aircraft parts manufacturer and a metal-finishing facility operated on the site. From 1940 to 1944, facilities at the site converted to manufacture products for World War II. After the war, aircraft parts manufacturing continued through 1957. At that time, the facility began to operate as an industrial park; metal plating and finishing and fiberglass products manufacturing took place on site. From the 1980s until 2009, the site hosted light manufacturing facilities and warehouses. Industrial activities on site contaminated soil, sediment and ground water. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in June 1986. Cleanup has included removal of underground storage tanks and contaminated soil and sediment and putting ground water treatment systems in place. Parties completed the construction of the remedy in September 2012. Ground water treatment systems continue to operate. In July 2001, the Town of Oyster Bay sought to use the western portion of the site to expand the neighboring 16-acre Ellsworth Allen community park. In October 2002, EPA entered into an agreement with the Town. It ensured the protectiveness of the site’s remedy and allowed the site’s reuse to move forward. In return for EPA waiving any potential Superfund liability for the local government and releasing Superfund liens on the site property, the Town made a substantial payment to EPA. The resources were to help fund cleanup activities and reimburse the Agency for its costs at the site. In September 2003, the Town acquired the site’s western parcel using its eminent domain authority. In July 2010, the Town took ownership of the 7.5-acre central parcel for the park expansion. Following EPA’s site cleanup and additional soil cleanup by the Town in 2010 and 2011 to meet state standards for residential reuse, the Town held community planning meetings for the Ellsworth Allen Park expansion. Preliminary plans for the park include a community center, ballfields, a multi-purpose sports field and green space. Site stakeholders also redeveloped the eastern portion of the site in 2010, locating a supermarket and parking lot on site.
Updated 1/2013
For more information:
- Liberty Industrial Finishing Reuse Success Story (PDF) (1 pg, 208K, About PDF)
- CERCLIS Superfund Site Profile
Love Canal
The Love Canal Superfund site, located less than one mile from the Niagara River in Niagara Falls, New York, consists of a 70-acre site that includes a former 16-acre industrial landfill. In the 1890s, William Love excavated the canal for a hydroelectric project. Since William Love never implemented the project, Hooker Chemicals and Plastics (now Occidental Chemical Corporation) bought the canal in 1942. Over a 10-year period, Hooker Chemicals and Plastics disposed of 21,000 tons of hazardous waste, including halogenated organics, pesticides, chlorobenzenes and dioxins on the site. By 1953, Hooker Chemicals and Plastics covered the landfill and sold the site to the Niagara Falls Board of Education. Beginning in the 1970s, local residents noticed foul odors and chemical residues and experienced increased rates of cancer and other severe health problems. In 1978 and 1980, President Carter declared two States of Emergency for the site, and evacuated more than 900 families from their homes. The severity of the site’s contamination led to federal legislation dealing with hazardous waste, including the passage of the Superfund law in 1980. EPA listed the site on the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1980 and began to work with New York State to clean up the site and contain the contamination. EPA and New York State completed remedial construction in 1999, and EPA deleted the site from the NPL in 2004. Today, Love Canal includes more than 260 rehabilitated homes and 10 apartment complexes as part of a senior citizen complex. Commercial and industrial redevelopment continues near the site.
Updated 1/2013
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Marathon Battery Corporation
The 70-acre Marathon Battery Corp. Superfund site is located in Cold Spring, New York. In 1965, the State of New York began requiring all towns and industries located along the Hudson River to treat their sanitary and industrial wastes prior to discharging them into the river. The Marathon Battery facility, which produced batteries for military and industrial use, had already been discharging untreated industrial waste to the Hudson River and nearby marshes for 13 years. The plant’s owners complied with orders to perform a limited cleanup of the resulting contamination in the 1970s. However, later studies revealed that high levels of cadmium and nickel remained in river sediments and surrounding wetlands. In 1983, EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL). While the majority of contamination was in the marshes where the facility had dumped processed waste, heavy metal dusts were also inside and outside the plant, and in the yards of nearby homes. As per a Consent Decree between EPA and the potentially responsible parties (PRPs), the parties demolished the battery plant and removed contaminated soils from the plant grounds and surrounding neighborhood yards. PRPs also dredged contaminated sediments the Cold Spring pier area, and East Foundry cove and marsh. The current owner of the former battery factory grounds is working closely with Cold Spring officials to redevelop the site in a way that is beneficial for the surrounding community. Following cleanup, EPA deleted the site from the NPL in 1996. The following year, the Scenic Hudson Land trust purchased an 85-acre parcel of land along the Hudson, which included the West Point Foundry Historical site and a portion of this former Superfund site. EPA and the Trust entered into a Prospective Purchaser Agreement that enabled the Trust to redevelop the site without being held liable for any previously undiscovered contamination. The Trust added hiking trails for public use. The Trust is currently renovating the site to highlight its Civil War industrial history. It will reopen in 2013. Now safe for public use and natural habitat, this site has been transformed from a heavily polluted area to one safe for use and enjoyment by local residents and wildlife alike.
Updated 1/2013
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Newtown Creek
Newtown Creek is a 3.8-mile-long tidal water body in New York City. The creek is a tributary of the East River and has five principal tributaries. In the mid-1800s, the area adjacent to the mostly stagnant creek was a busy industrial hub. The area included oil refineries, petrochemical plants, fertilizer and glue factories, sawmills, and lumber and coal yards. The transportation, handling and dumping of oils, chemicals and metals contributed to the creek’s contamination. In addition to the industrial pollution, the city began dumping raw sewage into the creek in 1856. Agencies including the New York City Department of Environmental Protection and EPA have collected contaminated surface water and sediment samples at the site since 1980. Local facilities have also conducted investigations and cleanup under state and federal programs to stop hazardous discharges into the creek. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in September 2010. EPA identified at least six parties as potentially responsible for contamination in the creek and expects to identify more as studies progress. Remedial investigations and fieldwork are ongoing at the site. Many factories and facilities still operate along the creek and the local community occasionally uses it for recreational purposes such as fishing and kayaking.
Updated 1/2013
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Niagara Mohawk Power Corp.
EPA worked closely with the community of Saratoga Springs, New York, and the site owner at the Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. (Saratoga Springs Plant) Superfund site to protect human health and the environment and to incorporate community priorities, including preservation of historic community resources and recreational reuse, into site cleanup plans. As part of the cleanup of this former coal gas manufacturing facility, the site owner preserved and relocated the site’s historic brick roundhouse, originally slated for demolition. Over a century old, the 70-foot-diameter structure is one of only a handful of these buildings left in the United States. EPA also adjusted restoration plans for areas next to Spring Run Creek to facilitate local efforts to construct a recreational trail. Today, pedestrians and bicyclists enjoy the 1.2-mile Spring Run Trail, completed in 2010. The path, which follows an old railroad bed along the fault line of historic natural springs, connects the city’s downtown with nearby recreation areas and shopping centers.
Updated 1/2013
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Old Bethpage Landfill
The Town of Oyster Bay, New York, disposed of municipal and industrial waste at the 68-acre Old Bethpage Landfill from 1957 to 1986. In 1979, local and federal officials identified contaminated waste at the landfill that posed a risk to the local drinking water supply. In 1983, EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL). In 1988, the town began to clean up the site, with oversight provided by the State of New York. The town installed a system to capture, store and treat liquids leaking from the landfill, built a cap over the site, and revegetated the area. When the landfill began to produce a greater volume of methane, the town installed a methane gas collection system, operating a methane co-generation facility at the site and selling the electricity generated by burning the methane. The methane co-generation facility closed in 2002, when methane production began to decline.
Updated 1/2013
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Onondaga Lake
The Onondaga Lake Superfund site includes the Onondaga Lake (the Lake), seven major and other minor tributaries, and upland sources of contamination in Syracuse, New York. Former industrial processing plants and municipal wastewater treatment plants routinely discharged their wastes into the Lake in the past. In addition, the Solvay Process Company, the predecessor to AlliedSignal, Inc. (Honeywell International, Inc. is a successor corporation of the former AlliedSignal, Inc.), produced soda ash on the west shore of the Lake. Today, vast areas on the western shoreline, called "Solvay waste beds," hold by-products of the company's soda ash production. In 1946, AlliedSignal initiated a mercury cell process at its facility on Willis Avenue, and the company later expanded to include a facility on Bridge Street. The company discharged mercury and other heavy metals into Onondaga Lake. Honeywell’s Semet Residue Ponds, which contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the facilities, are another source of contamination on the site. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1994. Remedial actions have included interim and final remedial measures such as the demolition and removal of the Mercury Cell building; installation of a steel sheet pile lakeshore barrier wall; excavation and on- and off-site treatment, and disposal of contaminated soils and sediments; landfill cap construction; slurry wall construction; construction of ground water extraction and on-site treatment systems; on-site leachate and contaminated ground water treatment; soil solidification; dredging of lake sediment; isolation and thin-layer capping of lake sediment; and the reestablishment and enhancement of on-site wetlands. Remedial investigations and cleanup continue but the community has already seen an immense change in the lake area. The local government banned public fishing at the Lake as early as 1970, but re-opened the Lake to allow catch-and-release fishing in 1986. During the summer of 2012, approximately 150 community members participated in a fishing derby at the Lake. Sixty species of fish now reside in the lake as opposed to the 12 species that struggled amidst heavy pollution years ago. Residents hope to be able to use the lake for a full-range of recreational purposes in the future.
Updated 1/2013
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Rosen Brothers Scrap Yard
Thanks to a unique agreement among EPA, the City of Cortland (the City), the State of New York, and the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad, the abandoned Rosen Brothers Scrap Yard/Dump Superfund site will soon house an intermodal transfer facility, generating jobs and revenue for the community. Previous site owners dumped hazardous wastes on the property and drums of unknown chemicals littered the 20-acre site. For years, the City cited the owners for violating state and county waste-disposal laws. After discovering contamination in both soil and ground water on site, the City requested EPA's assistance. In 1989, EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL). EPA immediately removed the drums, hazardous debris and contaminated soil, and helped secure the site. Ultimately, EPA worked with local parties to recycle over 700 tons of abandoned scrap metal from the site and completed the construction of a cover over the entire 20-acre site. During the cleanup, the City developed plans to reuse a portion of the site as an intermodal rail-to-road transport facility. EPA worked closely with the City to negotiate a Prospective Purchaser Agreement and take title to the property. The agreement ensured that the City would not have responsibility for previous contamination at the site and required that redevelopment construction not damage the cover over the site.
Updated 1/2013
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SMS Instruments, Inc.
The SMS Instruments, Inc. Superfund site is located in a light industrial area in Deer Park, New York. The site consists of a 34,000-square-foot building on a 1.5-acre lot. Buildings or asphalt cover about 90 percent of the site. From 1971 to 1983, SMS Instruments, Inc. overhauled military aircraft components and dumped wastewater from degreasing and other refurbishing operations into a leaching pool. Site inspections also found a 6,000-gallon underground tank used for jet fuel storage and corroded and leaking drums stored outdoors in an unprotected area. These operations contaminated site ground water and soil. EPA placed the site on the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1986. To clean up the site, EPA pumped, filled and sealed the leaching pond, cleaned up contaminated soil and treated ground water. Following EPA’s deletion of the site from the NPL in 2010, light industrial uses resumed. A kitchen, bathroom and household utensil manufacturer, used to operate at the site but a beverage distributor now operates on site.
Updated 1/2013
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Syosset Landfill
The Syosset Landfill Superfund site occupies about 38 acres in the Town of Oyster Bay, New York. The landfill operated from 1933 until 1975, accepting commercial, industrial, residential, demolition, agricultural, sludge wastes and ash wastes. A site inspection in 1982 found that former landfill practices had contaminated site soil and ground water and had created the potential for exposure to landfill gas. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1983. Cleanup activities included installing a permanent ventilation trench to prevent potential gas vapor migration from the landfill to neighboring residences and an elementary school, as well as a cap to contain over 6.7 million tons of waste buried at the site. Following completion of cleanup activities and EPA’s determination that the site does not pose a risk to human health, the Agency deleted the site from the NPL in 2005. The Town of Oyster Bay has returned the site to productive use. The site houses a salt storage facility, a miscellaneous equipment storage facility, a vehicle parking facility and a sanitation vehicle facility for the town’s highway division. In 2009, the town received American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds through the U.S. Department of Energy Clean Cities Alternative Fuel and Advanced Technology Vehicles Pilot Program to build a compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling facility station at the site and to convert 44 sanitation trucks from diesel fuel to CNG. The town completed a CNG fueling facility in 2011. EPA estimates that the converted, clean-burning CNG trucks will reduce the town’s petroleum usage by 264,000 gallons per year and produce fewer greenhouse emissions.
Updated 1/2013
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Tronic Plating Company, Inc.
The half-acre Tronic Plating Co., Inc. Superfund is located in Farmingdale, New York. From 1968 to 1984, the Tronic Plating Company operated at the site within a portion of an industrial park in the area. The company provided electroplating and metal protective coating services for the electronics industry. During operation, the facility discharged industrial wastes containing copper, silver, iron, zinc, lead and cadmium into a storm sewer and four underground leaching pools. Discharges of wastes contaminated ground water, soil and sediment with volatile organic compounds and metals. EPA placed the site on the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1986. Following the removal of contaminated soil and sediment and completion of site cleanup activities, EPA deleted the site from the NPL in 2001. Today, the site has returned to productive reuse. Three small businesses operate from the portion of the industrial park formerly occupied by Tronic Plating Company.
Updated 1/2013
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Wide Beach Development
When temperatures climb and Lake Erie begins to thaw, residents of the Wide Beach Development in Brant, New York, prepare for the annual migration of summer vacationers to this scenic resort town. Vacationers and homeowners alike come to this area for the beauty and relaxation that Lake Erie has to offer. Between 1968 and 1978, the Wide Beach Development Homeowners Association sprayed thousands of gallons of waste oil onto area dirt roads to control dust. Unbeknownst to members of the Homeowners Association, some of the waste oil contained polychlorinated biphenyls, a suspected carcinogen. In 1983, EPA placed the site on the National Priorities List (NPL). EPA worked closely with the state and the homeowners to remove contaminated soil from both roads and yards, while allowing continued use of the homes. Following the completion of cleanup activities, EPA deleted the 55-acre Wide Beach Development Superfund site from the NPL in 1994.
Updated 1/2013
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