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All Cleanup Measures in Place at Robintech, Inc./National Pipe Company Federal Superfund Site in Town of Vestal, New York

Release Date: 11/20/2001
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(#01137) NEW YORK, N.Y. -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that a hazardous waste site in the town of Vestal has been cleaned up and is on its way to a full recovery from past contamination problems. BFX Hospitality, Inc. has completed the cleanup of chemically-contaminated soil and all the necessary systems are operating effectively for the long-term cleanup of contaminated ground water at the Robintech, Inc./National Pipe Co. Superfund site. BFX performed these cleanup actions under the terms of a 1998 Consent Decree with EPA. The 12-acre site was placed on EPA= s National Priorities List (NPL) of hazardous waste sites in 1986 after it was linked to chemical contamination in local ground water. The property houses an active facility that manufactures polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipes. A joint inspection of the site was conducted by EPA and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) on August 8, 2001. Both EPA and the state agree that the soil cleanup at the site has been completed and the ground water extraction system is effectively halting the spread of contaminated ground water. EPA has determined that no further federal action, other than the continued operation of the ground water cleanup system, is required at the site. AThrough the Superfund process and the efforts of the company, the chemical source of the ground water contamination has been removed and the contaminated ground water beneath the facility is being cleaned,@ said EPA Acting Regional Administrator William J. Muszynski. Robinson Technical Products owned the property from 1966 to 1970, Robintech, Inc. from 1970 to 1982, and the Buffton Corporation from 1982 to the present. In 1996, the corporation changed its name to BFX Hospitality, Inc. In 1984, the NYSDEC discovered that the ground water beneath the facility was contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including vinyl chloride. The state asked EPA to address the problem through its federal Superfund program. Since 1998, when BFX signed a Consent Decree with EPA, the corporation has taken actions called for in the 1997 EPA cleanup plan for the site to protect the public and the environment from VOCs in the soil and ground water. These actions included the thermal treatment of over 10,000 cubic yards of excavated VOC- contaminated soil. The treated soil was then used as backfill for the excavated areas of the site. In addition, the corporation is using an existing network of production wells to extract contaminated ground water. All that remains to be done at the site is for the town to prohibit the installation of new drinking water wells in the impacted area until ground water standards are achieved, continued operation of the ground water cleanup system and long-term ground water monitoring.