Source: http://www.syracuse.com, May 27, 2015
By: Tim Knauss
Coyne Textile Services, one of the nation’s largest uniform rental companies, is trying to find out if toxic chemicals recently discovered in groundwater and soil at its Syracuse site are spreading to neighboring properties.
The Syracuse Common Council on Tuesday gave Coyne permission to drill four monitoring wells along the sidewalk on South Clinton Street, between Tallman and Taylor streets, to conduct tests to the west of Coyne’s facility.
Coyne will use the wells to find out whether groundwater flowing west from its property has been polluted with vinyl chloride, benzene, tetrachloroethene or other volatile organic compounds found on Coyne’s property.
The potential contamination of groundwater poses little risk to drinking water in the neighborhood, because residents are served by city water pipes. But company officials and state regulators are concerned that some poisonous chemicals, such as tetrachloroethene, can vaporize and infiltrate buildings with contaminated air.
Coyne’s environmental consultants recently completed vapor tests inside the Coyne facility at 140 Cortland Ave., but the results are not back yet, said Thomas Bohlen, a project manager from GZA GeoEnvironmental Inc., the company’s consultant.
Tetrachloroethene, a chemical formerly used in dry cleaning, may be harmful, according to health officials. The chemical, also known as PCE, may affect the central nervous system, the liver, kidneys, blood, immune system, and perhaps the reproductive system, according to the state health department.
In tests of soil and groundwater conducted at Coyne’s factory and parking lot last fall, chemicals were found at levels that exceed what the government allows. At one location near a chemical storage room, inside the company’s sprawling facility at 140 Cortland Ave., pollution levels were particularly high.
Vinyl chloride, a known carcinogen, was detected in groundwater below the chemical storage area at 360 parts per billion, which is 180 times the limit set by the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Tetrachloroethene, a related volatile organic compound, was detected at a nearby groundwater test site at 2.42 parts per thousand. That’s 484,000 times higher than the state’s limit for discharges into groundwater. Like most dry cleaning operations, Coyne stopped using PCE at least 15 years ago.
Coyne officials immediately notified the Department of Environmental Conservation of the discharges and applied for voluntary participation in the DEC’s Brownfield Cleanup Program.
“They’ve done everything by the book,” Bohlen said. “They’ve been completely transparent with all regulatory agencies.”
The next step is to investigate whether dangerous chemicals migrated off Coyne’s property into groundwater that flows west toward Onondaga Creek, which is two blocks away.
Contamination of the creek is unlikely, Bohlen said. Coyne and regulators from the DEC and the state Department of Health are more concerned with the potential for vapor intrusion in buildings, he said.
If Coyne is accepted into the brownfield program, the company would be eligible for tax credits to offset part of the cost of a cleanup. As of this afternoon, DEC officials had not responded to a request for information submitted Tuesday morning.
For decades, Coyne has run an industrial laundry and dry cleaning operation at its site just south of downtown Syracuse. The company has always complied with its state environmental permits, said Bohlen, the consultant.
Coyne’s recent investigation of pollution at its Syracuse headquarters was sparked not by the DEC, but by a lender that is preparing to refinance some of the company’s debt, city hall officials said Tuesday. The lender is trying to assess any environmental liability associated with the Coyne property.
If the new wells along South Clinton Street reveal no off-site contamination, no further off-site wells will be necessary, Bohlen said. If contaminants are found, then additional wells further west from the facility may be required to find the extent of pollution, he said.
According to Coyne’s application to the DEC, the company plans to finalize a cleanup plan by the end of 2015 and complete the cleanup by the end of 2016. Copies of the application are available for review at Beauchamp Library, 2111 S. Salina St.; and the Southwest Community Center Library, 401 South Ave.
Coyne was started in 1929 in Syracuse by J. Stanley Coyne, who laundered work clothes and shop towels. The company remains headquartered in Syracuse and operates 25 locations in 24 states. Coyne is one of the largest privately owned uniform rental companies in the United States, according to its website.