The EPA announced Wednesday that crews are beginning to remove 235 drums from the Lehigh Railroad Derailment Site in LeRoy.

A December 1970 train derailment resulted in the release of liquid trichloroethene and cyanide crystals. The material in the drums was tested for these and other contaminants.

While the EPA considers the drums non-hazardous and eligible for disposal as non-hazardous waste, the Lehigh Valley Railroad has arranged for material to be disposed of at a landfill that is permitted to accept hazardous waste.

The derailment site is being checked into as one of many possible causes for more than a dozen teenagers in LeRoy who have developed tic-like symptoms.