DEC Presents Plan To Clean Batavia Iron and Metal Site
A former Batavia recycling plant, closed for more than a decade, has left a lasting imprint on its neighbors. Now, the Department of Environmental Conservation is getting involved. Members of the DEC presented a proposed cleanup plan for the Batavia Iron and Metal site to residents on Wednesday night.
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BATAVIA, N.Y. — What used to be a metal recycling facility became nothing but a contaminated site in Batavia.
The former Batavia Iron and Metal location is now filled with debris and after investigating the soil and water in this location, the DEC found the contamination has spread.
"We investigated the soil and the groundwater and what we found was that the on site soils were contaminated with heavy metals, PCBs, and classic chemicals. The groundwater was contaminated with organic chemicals. There is contamination moving off site; however, the contaminants at the property line are right at or near the ground water standards we also investigated off site," said Todd Caffoe, environmental engineer for the DEC.
Caffoe told residents that the DEC did find some contamination near area homes.
"We looked at some of the homes off site to see if there was contamination in any of their houses. We did find contamination below their houses. However, we did not find contamination entering their houses. We also did some sampling in backyards and we did find some elevated metals and PCBs in one backyard, which is going to be addressed by this remedy," said Caffoe.
The DEC says it plans to remove everything toxic from the location at a cost of $8.1 million for the state.
"We are basically going to clean it up to the residential site cleanup objectives, so when the site is cleaned up, it will be able to be developed as residential property," Caffoe said.
Residents at the meeting did voice their concerns about the DEC timeline. If this solution is selected, the process wouldn't begin until 2014.
Residents can comment on this project up until March 31 by clicking on this link to the DEC website.