By IB Times Staff Reporter: Subscribe to IB's RSS feed
August 27, 2010 9:26 AM EDT
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said on Thursday it ordered Motors Liquidation Co., formerly the General Motors Corp., to remove materials and soil contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from a former foundry site in Massena, New York.
Motors Liquidation plans to demolish several buildings at the General Motors Central Foundry Division Superfund site, a former GM plant, which are contaminated with PCBs, which pose significant threats to human health and the environment.
EPA said PCBs have been found in the plant’s equipment, the piping and concrete flooring, and in tunnels and soil located underneath the buildings. These PCBs could pose a threat of further release in the event of improper demolition and excavation activities.
“EPA's oversight of the demolition of the GM facility, including the proper handling of PCBs, is critical in ensuring the safety of nearby residents and workers. The demolition will lead to a full cleanup at the site and will make the property available for redevelopment and productive reuse,” EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck said.
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Motors Liquidation will be responsible for additional sampling, decontamination of the building and its contents, demolition of the building, removal of PCB-contaminated soil beneath the building and restoration of the area, the agency said.
EPA said its oversight of the work will ensure that any PCB-contaminated material and soil handled as part of demolition and excavation operations at the site comply with all federal and state laws and regulations.
The Congress banned PCBs in 1976 and has been demonstrated to cause a variety of adverse health effects. It cause cancer in animals, and EPA has classified PCBs as a probable human carcinogen. It can also affect the immune, reproductive, nervous and endocrine systems and cause other health effects.
The GM facility operated as an aluminum die-casting plant from 1959 to May 2009. Until 1980, PCBs were a component of hydraulic fluids used in die-casting machines at the facility. During GM’s operations, PCB-laden sludge from one of the industrial lagoons and from the wastewater treatment plant was periodically dumped in two on-site disposal areas and an on-site landfill.
EPA added the foundry site to the Superfund National Priorities List on Sept. 1, 1984. GM had been cleaning contaminated areas of the site under two EPA cleanup plans, but since the buildings at the facility were being used for manufacturing until early 2009, the buildings themselves had not been included in those cleanups.
Additionally, GM or Motors Liquidation donated and auctioned off manufacturing equipment and office furniture from the site, some of which has been recently shown to contain PCBs. Motors Liquidation has offered to collect this equipment or furniture at no cost to the buyer or recipient.
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