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EPA Places Site in Genesee County on the Final Superfund National Priorities List

Release Date: 01/19/1999
Contact Information: Mike Basile 716-285-8842 / basile.michael@epa.gov

(#99006) NEW YORK, N.Y. -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has placed the hazardous waste site in LeRoy, New York on the final Superfund National Priorities List (NPL), the federal list of the nation's worst hazardous waste sites. EPA proposed the site for inclusion on the NPL in July 1998. Sites that are placed on the final NPL are eligible for long- term "remedial action" or cleanups financed by the Superfund Trust Fund. In 1970, the Lehigh Valley Road site was contaminated by a chemical spill from a train derailment, which caused contamination of soils and drinking water wells in the area.

Despite cleanup measures directed by the state and undertaken by the party responsible for the pollution immediately following the accident, the Lehigh Valley Road site still contains soils with elevated levels of primarily trichloroethylene (TCE) and a contaminated groundwater plume extending almost 4 miles east and southeast of the site. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) monitored the groundwater contamination for several years after the initial cleanup. When the state made the safety levels for TCE more stringent in the late 1980s, the contamination of the drinking water wells in the area became a priority for government action. In 1991, EPA installed individual treatment systems on private wells to remove contamination from 37 affected residences in the area. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) installed a treatment system at another residence in October 1994.

According to EPA Regional Administrator Jeanne M. Fox, "EPA actions in 1991 were taken to ensure that the affected residents had safe drinking water. The final listing of the Lehigh Valley Road site on the Superfund National Priorities List means that EPA will be able to address the remaining groundwater problems at the site."

The agency periodically proposes sites to the NPL and designates proposed sites as final. The total number of sites on the NPL in New York State is now 85, including a new site in Great Neck, Long Island that was proposed for the NPL today.

The final listing for the Lehigh Valley Road site was published in the Federal Register today. Members of the public interested in obtaining copies of the notice or an updated NPL site descriptions can contact the RCRA/Superfund Hotline at 1-800-424-9346 or 703-412-9810. Further information about the site and the Superfund program will be available on EPA's homepage: www.epa.gov.superfund.

NOTE TO EDITORS: Reporters should contact Rich Cahill at (212) 637-3666 for the above information.

For more information contact:
Mike Basile, Press Office
EPA Region 2 Niagara Field Office
345 third Street
Niagara Falls, NY 14303
Voice: 716-285-8842 FAX: 716-285-8788 E-Mail: basile.michael@epamail.epa.gov