HUGUENOT – The former C&D Batteries
site on Route 209 in the Huguenot section of the Town of Deerpark was
found to be contaminated with PCBs and other chemicals and while a record
of decision was signed by the state Department of Environmental Conservation
for one of two sections investigated in March 2002, no remediation work
has been performed to date.
Thirteen years after the first record of decision for cleanup was issued,
no remediation work has been conducted on the property which is listed
as a Class 2 site in the State Registry of Inactive Hazardous Waste Sites.
A Class 2 site represents a significant threat to public health or the
environment and requires action, the DEC noted.
That initial study looked at soils above groundwater in an unsaturated
lagoon where chemical discharges have been made in past years.
That investigation was conducted between August 1999 and May 2001.
The second section of the site was investigated and studied between July
2001 and July 2008 and focused on the saturated zone beneath the lagoon,
off-site sediment, surface water, on-and off-site groundwater, on- and
off-site soil and sub-paved soil.
The studies found that soil and groundwater are both contaminated. The
soils contain PCBs, lead, cadmium and barium. Groundwater was found to
be contaminated with high levels of fluoride. Off-site stream sediments
also contain lead, cadmium, and PCBs.
The remedies proposed for the sites include excavation and off-site disposal
of contaminated lagoon soils to a depth of four to six feet and excavation
and stabilization of all on-site soil containing lead contamination and
solidification of remaining contaminated lagoon soils to the groundwater
table.
Before any work is undertaken, the DEC will conduct a public hearing on
Thursday, February 26 at 7 p.m. at Deerpark Town Hall. Written comments
may also be submitted from February 16 through March 18.
From 1959 to 1970, the site was owned and operated by Empire Tube Company,
a manufacturer of black and white TV tubes. Hydrofluoric acid was used
in the process. Industrial wastewater was discharged to a lagoon adjacent
to the plant building.
C&D Technology operated the facility manufacturing industrial lead
batteries from the mid-1970s to 2006. From the mid-1970s until about 1982,
C&D discharged non-cooling water into the lagoon.
