Source: http://www.watertowndailytimes.com, MAY 14, 2016
By: Craig Fox
Coming three years after contaminants were found, the state announced on Friday it was proceeding with a $1.5 million cleanup near Kelsey Creek of pollutants that were dumped decades ago at the former New York Air Brake plant.
In a press release, the state Department of Environmental Conservation said the remediation project is designed to tackle the remnants of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, and cadmium, a poisonous metal, found in a small section of the creek, near the North Watertown Cemetery.
The contaminants were detected on the north side of the creek in a half-acre site in the cemetery on Bradley Street, according to documents obtained last year by the Times.
But East Division Street resident James P. Barker — who with his brother, Scott W. Barker, and a former neighbor, Andrew Williams, has expressed concerns in recent years about the cleanup — said Friday he cannot understand why it took so long to discover the contaminants and why they weren’t cleaned up a long time ago.
“It goes to questions of credibility,” he said. “It’s negligence that the fact that contaminants continue to exist and potentially affect the community.”
The contaminants were found in 2013 during a review of a cleanup completed during the 1990s at the former Starbuck Air Brake site. In the spring and summer of 2013, Aecom Technical Services Northeast Inc., Latham, conducted a 10-year review of the cleanup of Kelsey and Oily creeks to determine the conditions of the two tributaries.
A DEC official admitted last year it was the first time that environmental consultants recommended that additional cleanup work be done. Until then, DEC was unaware that contaminants existed or that they should be removed, the DEC official said.
In recent years, Mr. Barker and the other two men have been working with the California law firm made famous by environmental activist Erin Brockovich on possible litigation regarding the former Air Brake site.
A group of north side residents also have called for additional testing because of concerns over toxic chemicals dumped at the former Air Brake site years ago.
According to the DEC, SPX Corporation — the North Carolina company that was involved in previous Air Brake cleanup efforts — has agreed to pay for the new work. Expected to take six months to complete, the company will then prepare a final engineering report ensuring the cleanup was finished.
In an email Friday night, DEC officials said the agency conducted “long-term monitoring” of the site. The 10-year review confirmed that contaminants were found at the cemetery and the remediation project will “address the new found sources of contamination,” the email said.
The remediation includes stripping existing vegetation and uncontaminated surface soil for reuse on-site and removing contaminated sediment and soil before backfilling the banks, according to a DEC press release.
During the project, Kelsey Creek will be diverted by using a cofferdam or pump around the work area and the creek will then be restored to support habitat.
In an email Friday night, DEC officials stressed the existing contamination does not pose any “immediate threats to public health,” since the remediation will consist of “residential criteria, which is more protective than the levels that would be allowed at a commercial use site or cemetery.”
In its 2013 report, Aecom concluded an oily material containing the PCBs was found in soil and sediment, according to the report’s findings. PCBs also were detected in the creek’s biota — prey fish and crayfish — “at levels of concern” near the cemetery and downstream.
Kelsey Creek runs through the cemetery and underneath the Bradley Street bridge, more than a mile from the former Air Brake plant on Starbuck Avenue. The consultant also concluded no other environmental concerns exist and the levels of contaminants were decreasing.
Based on review of aerial photos, the site in the cemetery appeared to have been filled in before the cleanup in 1999, so it “was not fully removed,” according to Aecom’s report.
The 1999 cleanup included removing only the top foot of soil along the two tributaries, so the contaminants were left behind, according documents obtained by the Watertown Daily Times.
Mr. Barker said he uncovered handwritten documents, completed on Oct. 21, 1998, by a project manager of that cleanup, that indicate contaminants were left in the creek near the cemetery and covered over by “fill.”
The documents, obtained through a Freedom of Information request, prove that DEC officials should have been aware of the contaminants in Kelsey Creek, he said.
In March of 2015, The Times obtained the environmental consultant’s report after submitting a Freedom of Information request with DEC.
The creek area is the third of three sites linked to the former Air Brake site, according to the DEC. The first site includes former buildings, storage areas, and landfill and the second is the on-site and off-site soil vapor intrusion.
It was the fifth testing completed for the DEC to determine whether the 1990s cleanup was successful.
Working with DEC officials, the state Department of Health reviewed and approved the remediation plan. It includes a monitoring plan to protect workers and individuals in the vicinity of the site, the DEC email said.
But residents have expressed concerns about levels of PCBs found in the neighborhood over the years. PCBs are carcinogens. In the past, they have not mentioned cadmium, a soft, white metal that forms from smelting zinc, lead or copper ores. Exposure is not considered a major health concern, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
In recent years, residents and former neighbors have told stories about family members suffering nerve disorders, cancer and birth defects.
In 1995, DEC dredged Kelsey Creek and removed contaminants and soil. But residents said they believe pollutants got into the ground and spread off site and back into Kelsey Creek, causing subsequent health problems for them and their families.
In 2008, the DEC conducted “vapor intrusion” tests and found unacceptable levels of trichloroethylene, or TCE, an industrial solvent used at the Air Brake plant decades ago, in four on-site buildings and a house at 431 E. Hoard St., which subsequently was equipped with an air-mitigation system.
In all, 43 houses, two schools and a church were tested off site.
Mr. Williams said Friday he still calls for more testing in the Starbuck and North Elementary schools and in homes in the neighborhood, contending that contaminants continue to flow downstream from the former Air Brake Site.
“I think it’s a joke. They have to clean up more than the cemetery,” he said.
The Vititoe Law Group, the firm made famous by Ms. Brockovich, agreed to represent residents who believe they have suffered health problems from toxic chemicals. But Mr. Barker and Mr. Williams don’t know the status of the lawsuit, because another nationally-known environmental attorney, Thomas V. Girardi, has dropped out of the case.
If the case goes forward, the lawsuit most likely would be against New York Air Brake; Knorr-Bremse Group, the company’s current parent company, and SPX Corp.
Mr. Williams and Scott Barker, who now lives in Ohio, have suffered from nerve disorders and other ailments that they blame on the contaminants dumped from the Air Brake site decades ago.