Indian Time - A Voice from the Eastern Door

Albany, N.Y. (March 25, 2019) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that dredging will begin in April to clean up sediment contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) at the Grasse River Superfund Site (aka Alcoa Aggregation) in Massena, New York. PCB contamination is the result of past waste disposal practices at the Alcoa West (now Arconic) facility. In 2013, EPA selected a cleanup plan for the site that called for dredging and capping of PCB-contaminated sediment in a 7.2-mile stretch of river. Since that time, Arconic has been working out the details of how the dredging and capping work will be carried out, under EPA oversight. Arconic is performing the work, estimated at $243 million, under an EPA order.

The dredging portion of the cleanup is expected to be completed by late fall. Beginning in 2020, clean material will be placed in the river’s main channel to encapsulate PCB contamination in the river bottom. The dredging, capping and habitat reconstruction work is expected to take approximately 4 years to complete.

The EPA will hold public meetings on April 3 in Massena and April 4 in Akwesasne to discuss the details of the work to be performed in 2019.

Massena: Wednesday, April 3, 2019

6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Massena Community Center

61 Beach Street

Massena, N.Y.

Akwesasne: Thursday, April 4, 2019

6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Office for the Aging - Seniors

29 Margaret Terrance Memorial Way

Akwesasne, N.Y.

Details:

During the 2019 dredging season, mechanical dredges will be used to remove PCB-contaminated sediment from near-shore areas of the project using environmental buckets. Excavated sediment will be transported by barge to a staging area located next to the river, near the intersection of County Route 42 and Route 131 in Massena, for offloading, processing and dewatering. Dredging will generally be performed upstream to downstream, except for a few upstream areas which have been identified as lake sturgeon spawning areas. Work will not begin in these upstream areas until the middle of June. Dredges are expected to work on the river 12 hours a day, Monday through Saturday, through the fall. Project activities will be conducted through the night time hours at the staging area.

Contaminated sediment water will be collected and pretreated at the staging area before being sent to the Arconic West plant for additional treatment and subsequent discharge into the Grasse River. Processed sediment will be loaded into dump trucks for transport to the permitted landfill at the Arconic West plant. Trucks leaving the staging area will be thoroughly cleaned before exiting the site.

In 2019, an additional shoreline support area will be constructed near Haverstock Road. Clean capping material, needed for work in the main channel in 2020, will be brought to this area by truck and transported by pipeline to the cap placement equipment on the river. Other work to be conducted in 2019 includes the removal of an estimated 7,500 cubic yards of contaminated soil from the floodplain and areas along the north shore of the river near the Alcoa Bridge.

Health and safety plans have been developed to protect workers and area communities. The air and river water will be monitored during the work, and the results will be available on Arconic’s project website: http://www.thegrasseriver.com. Noise and lighting in the work zones will also be monitored. Efforts will be made to mitigate noise generated from the construction activities.

Since construction of the Route 131 staging area in 2017 / 2018, a traffic management plan has been in place to address the increased truck traffic at and near the staging area. While efforts will be made to minimize impacts, residents should exercise caution when driving in the area. Limited impacts to recreational boating are expected. River users should exercise care because large vessels will be moving continuously between the dredge areas and the Route 131 staging area. New York state has developed a fact sheet: “Recreation Advice for Lower Grasse River During Dredging and Capping.”

For more information about the Grasse River Superfund Site, please visit https://www.epa.gov/superfund/alcoa-aggregate. General project questions can be directed to Larisa Romanowski, EPA Public Affairs Specialist, at (518) 407-0400 or romanowski.larisa@epa.gov. Residents with specific questions or concerns related to dredging and capping activities while work is being performed should call Arconic’s community liaison, Sue Flynn, at (315) 764-4400 or Susan.Flynn@arconic.com.

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