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Federal Superfund Cleanup Cleanup Underway at Abandoned Hazardous Waste Site in Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Release Date: 09/17/1998
Contact Information:

(#98126) NEW YORK -- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cleanup crews have stabilized improperly stored hazardous materials to prevent a potential chemical incident at the abandoned All Plating Corporation property at 154 North 7th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York. EPA is now sampling the 7,000 gallons of electroplating solutions in vats and drums at the site in preparation for their safe off-site disposal. The Agency EPA has budgeted close to $400,000 for the cleanup of the site, which should be completed in late October.

EPA is maintaining around-the-clock security to restrict public access to the property. It is the site of a former electroplating and metal-finishing firm property that ceased operations in early 1997 after the owner failed to comply with orders from New York City to clean it up. EPA is addressing this site under the Federal Superfund removal program and coordinating its cleanup activities with the New York City Departments of Environmental Protection, Fire and Police.

EPA Regional Administrator Jeanne M. Fox said, "The chemicals and storage conditions at the site created a high potential for a release of dangerous substances into the environment. Under EPA's Superfund program, we are able to quickly respond to the situation and remove any potential threat to the local community. We have planned this operation to be safe and fast with minimal disruption or inconvenience to the public." EPA inspected the site this Spring at the city's request and found an incompatible mix of heavy metals, acids, corrosives and other hazardous materials improperly stored in leaking drums and bags. Several open vats and tanks containing a variety of chemicals and heavy metals are also inside the deteriorated building where fires and vandalism have occurred. Two trailers are parked outside the building that contain corrosives and acids in pails and drums.

This is the second EPA Superfund Removal action in Williamsburg during the 1990s. In 1995, EPA removed all the chemical hazards from the abandoned Slattery Gas Stove site on Wallabout Street at a cost of more than $1 million. EPA's Superfund has been successfully used for hazardous cleanups in other boroughs of New York City including the Radium Chemical Superfund site in Woodside and the Hexagon Lab site in the Bronx.

For more information contact:
Richard Cahill, Press Office
EPA Region 2
290 Broadway
NY, NY 10007-1866
Voice: 212-637-3666 FAX: 212-637-5046 E-Mail: [email protected]