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EPA Removes Two Niagara County Sites from the Superfund List

Release Date: 08/24/2004
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(#04131) NEW YORK -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced that health and environmental threats at the Hooker-102nd Street Landfill site and the Niagara County Refuse sites have been addressed, making it possible for the Agency to take the sites off the Superfund National Priorities List (NPL). "These sites once posed a threat to the surrounding community," said EPA Regional Administrator Jane M. Kenny. "The sites no longer endanger people's health, and we can declare both cleanups a success." The Hooker-102nd Street Landfill site is bordered by the Niagara River, south of the LaSalle Expressway and the Love Canal site in Niagara Falls. The former 22-acre landfill is owned by Occidental Chemical Corporation (formerly Hooker Chemical) and the Olin Chemical Corporation. From 1943 to 1971, the landfill accepted chemical waste products. Over time, contamination from the landfill leached into the soil and ground water. Under EPA oversight, Occidental and Olin installed a synthetic cap covered by clay over the landfill to prevent contamination from storm water runoff. They also installed a system to collect and treat leachate and a slurry wall, which keep liquids from running into the river. This work was completed in 2000, and long-term operation and maintenance of the landfill cleanup measures is being conducted by the responsible parties with oversight by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. The Niagara County Refuse site is a former 65-acre municipal landfill just north of the Niagara River, which accepted municipal and industrial waste from 1968-1976. The site was covered with soil and clay when it was closed in 1976, but over time, the cap wore away in spots and storm water runoff and leachate became contaminated. EPA began studying the site in 1987, and a group of fourteen responsible parties, including Niagara County municipalities, formed a working group to finish investigating the site and clean it up. The responsible parties installed a new landfill cap and constructed a clay perimeter barrier wall and leachate collection and treatment system. Long-term operation and maintenance of the remedy is being conducted by the responsible parties under EPA oversight.