Tech City cleanup to begin

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LAKE KATRINE – The Environment Protection Agency will begin work, using Superfund legislation and funds, to conduct asbestos abatement and cleanup on the former IBM facility in the Town of Ulster.

“The EPA will begin some demolition and major remediation work on two of the buildings,” said Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan. “This is another major step to begin the environmental remediation and finally turn this site around and turn the corner to have it be a core part of our economy.”

  Ryan made the announcement in a vacant county-owned building on the campus’ west side, regarding the project, across Enterprise Drive, on the east side.

The former IBM campus was bought by Alan Ginsburg, who renamed it Tech City. Ginsburg and his affiliated companies were notified by EPA in December and given notice to come up with an abatement plan, but no reply has been returned.

  The EPA told Ginsburg he would be liable for the cleanup, which includes abatement in buildings 1 and 2 and the cleanup of asbestos piles from the demolition of building 25.

In November, the county gained ownership of two large parcels on the site through foreclosure, and Ginsburg still owes more than $12 million in back school and property taxes. 

Ryan said the remediation work, beginning next month, should be completed within two to two-and-half months. “This is another major step to begin the environmental mediation and finally turn this site around and turn the corner to have it be a core part of our economy again,” he said. “There will be more to do. This will address the most urgent needs in terms of asbestos contamination.”

As the remediation gets underway, the county will begin to try and attract new businesses to the former site, once a major player in the county’s economy before IBM closed the plant in the mid-1990s.

“In parallel, we’re going to start the work to turn this back around and make it again the central hub of the county and the region’s economy as was decades ago,” said Ryan. “We need to get this back humming again the way it used to be. That’s the goal; that’s the plan.”




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