Source: http://www.timesunion.com, January 13, 2015
By: Brian Nearing

Dry-cleaning solvent, byproducts spreading from Central Avenue site

The state Department of Environmental Conservation will investigate a toxic underground chemical plume beneath a former Central Avenue dry cleaner that is moving toward homes and businesses in Colonie.
There are unsafe levels of a dry-cleaning solvent — tetrachloroethene (PCE) — and its byproducts, trichloroethene (TCE) and dichloroethene (DCE) in groundwater and soil at the former Damshire Cleaners, 1205 Central Ave., according to a DEC notice issued Tuesday.
An underground solvent plume from property is “migrating southwesterly under Central Avenue toward a commercial and residential neighborhood,” according to online DEC records on hazardous waste sites. Dangerous vapors coming up through the ground pose a potential risk of “intrusion into off-site structures.”
Damshire closed in 2001 when owner Paul Dambrowski went bankrupt after a $775,000 DEC fine for repeated pollution violations that stemmed from antiquated machinery leaking dry-cleaning solvents.
The investigation seeks to measure the underground chemical plume and determine whether vapors pose a risk to nearby property owners, according to DEC. PCE levels in groundwater southwest of the former business were up to 24,000 times safety standards, but levels decreased significantly farther away from the building, according to online DEC records.
Inside air tests are planned for “nearby, off-site buildings during the winter of 2014-15,” according to online DEC records.
Exposure to PCE likely increases cancer risk, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Primary effects from chronic, long-term inhalation exposure are neurological, including impaired cognitive and motor neurobehavioral performance, according to EPA. PCE exposure may also “cause adverse effects in the kidney, liver, immune system and hematologic system, and on development and reproduction.”
In 2010, current building owner Nina Marie Crisafulli had a preliminary vapor study conducted that, according to DEC records, found “significant levels of chlorinated solvent contamination” in ground beneath the building and in air inside the building, which is currently vacant. Crisafulli purchased the property in 2007, according to real estate records.
After Crisafulli was “not willing to conduct further investigation of the onsite soil and groundwater,” DEC added the property to the state Superfund pollution cleanup program in 2012, according to DEC hazardous waste site records. A 2011 DEC study of groundwater near the site found “significant impacts” from the dry cleaning solvents.
The nearly $775,000 fine that DEC levied against Dambrowski in 2001 was, at the time, the largest pollution fine against a Capital Region dry cleaner.
It could not be immediately determined how much of the fine, if any, was ever paid. The DEC regional office said the case was referred to the state attorney general’s office for prosecution and collection. A spokesman for that office said the status of the judgment could not be determined.
The planned investigation will be paid for by the state Superfund program, with efforts made later to recover costs from Crisafulli, according to DEC.