Issued: Feb 27, 2024 (1:49pm EST)
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EPA Announces Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Funds for Cleanups at Two Superfund Sites in New York
NEW YORK (February 27, 2024) - Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that two New York Superfund sites are among the over 100 sites across the country getting more than $1 billion for cleanup projects as part of President Biden's Investing in America agenda. This funding is made possible by the President's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and will launch new cleanup projects at 25 Superfund sites and continue other cleanups at over 85 Superfund sites. The New York Superfund sites included are the Old Roosevelt Field Contaminated Groundwater Area Site in Garden City and a portion of the Onondaga Lake Superfund site near Syracuse.
Thousands of contaminated sites exist nationally due to hazardous waste being dumped, left out in the open, or otherwise improperly managed. These sites can include toxic chemicals from manufacturing facilities, processing plants, landfills and mining, and can harm the health and well-being of local communities in urban and rural areas. More than one in four Black and Hispanic Americans live within three miles of a Superfund site.
"People living in New York have seen firsthand how transformative the Superfund program can be for communities," said Regional Administrator Lisa F. Garcia. "This investment in America and in New York builds on the historic progress we have already made in recent years to ensure that communities living near the most serious uncontrolled, or abandoned contaminated sites get the protections they deserve."
"Syracuse and the communities surrounding Onondaga Lake have seen firsthand how transformative the Superfund program can be. Onondaga Lake was once one of the most polluted lakes in the country, but because of decades of work by activists and the strengthened federal environmental laws, the waterways are the cleanest they have been in nearly a century, but there is still much more to be done. Today, thanks to our Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, approximately $23 million in federal funding will flow to jumpstart the cleanup of the Ley Creek portion of the Onondaga Lake Superfund site – while the EPA continues work to hold polluters accountable," said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. "Our work is far from finished, but kick starting the cleanup of these long-polluted sites and waterways exactly what the Superfund funding I fought to supercharge in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was mean to do. I am proud to deliver this federal funding so that cleanup for Central NY can finally get underway and vow to continue to fight for the resources needed to protect our beautiful Central New York waterways."
"This is a critical investment that will help clean up dangerous and widespread contaminants in New York's groundwater and waterways," said Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. "I'm proud that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is providing this funding, which will help clean up contamination at Roosevelt Field and Onondaga Lake. I will continue working with the Biden administration to address legacy pollution and to improve public health for all."
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos said, "Thanks to our strong partnership with U.S. EPA Administrator Michael Regan and EPA Regional Administrator 2 Lisa Garcia, New York State continues to benefit from investments under the Biden Administration's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to cleanup former industrial sites in communities across the state. The significant funding announced today bolsters New York's extensive and ongoing cleanup efforts in communities historically overburdened by environmental pollution, advancing a path to a cleaner environment and protection of the heath of New Yorkers for generations to come."
The Old Roosevelt Field Contaminated Groundwater Area Site is located on the former location of the Roosevelt Field airfield in Garden City, Nassau County, New York. Roosevelt Field was used for aviation from 1911 to 1951. It is likely that chlorinated solvents were used at Roosevelt Field during and after World War II. Trichloroethylene (TCE) and Tetrachloroethylene (PCE) were detected in the Village of Garden City in several public water supply wells in the late 1970s and early 1980s. All residences and commercial buildings within the site are now connected to public water supplies that are treated to meet drinking water standards.
EPA BIL funding will be used to address groundwater contamination at the Old Roosevelt Field Contaminated Groundwater site by pumping the water to the surface, treating it and discharging to a basin. This work is estimated to cost about $13 million.
The 4.6-square mile Onondaga Lake site is located northwest of Syracuse in New York. Its shoreline borders Syracuse, as well as the towns of Geddes and Salina and villages of Solvay and Liverpool. The site includes the lake and seven tributaries, as well as several land-based sources of contamination. Industries around Onondaga Lake have discharged pollutants and sewage into the lake for more than 100 years. To facilitate coordination of the various investigations and cleanup activities being conducted by EPA and the New York Department of Environmental Conservation in and on the shorelines of the lake and several of its tributaries, 11 subsites have been created for the site. The Ley Creek Deferred Media portion of the General Motors–Inland Fisher Guide subsite includes Ley Creek and its floodplains from the former General Motors facility to the Route 11 bridge.
The EPA BIL funding will be used to address soil on the floodplains and sediment in Ley Creek that are contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and metals. The work will include excavating, disposing of and backfilling about 144,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil from the floodplains and excavating and disposing of about 9,600 cubic yards of contaminated sediment from the bottom of Ley Creek. The BIL funding will pay for approximately $23 million worth of cleanup work to get the action started as EPA continues to engage with responsible parties.
Today's investment is the final wave of funding from the $3.5 billion allocated for Superfund cleanup work in the President's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. So far, EPA has deployed more than $2 billion for cleanup activities at more than 150 Superfund National Priorities List sites. Thanks President Biden's commitment to addressing legacy pollution and improving public health, EPA has been able to provide as much funding for cleanup work in the past two years as it did in the previous five years while delivering on President Biden's Justice40 Initiative, which set a goal to deliver 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.
EPA is committed to advancing environmental justice and incorporating equity considerations into all aspects of the Superfund cleanup process. Thus far, nearly 80% of the funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has gone to sites in communities with potential environmental justice concerns. Out of the 25 sites to receive funding for new cleanup projects, more than 75% are in communities with potential environmental justice concerns based on data from EJSCREEN.
President Biden's Investing in America agenda is restoring the health and economic vitality of communities that have been exposed to pervasive legacy pollution. The historic investment made by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law strengthens every part of the Superfund program, making a dramatic difference in EPA's ability to tackle threats to human health and the environment. In addition to funding cleanup construction work, the investment is enabling EPA to increase funding for and accelerate essential work needed to prepare sites for construction and to ensure communities are meaningfully involved in the cleanup process. In 2023, EPA continued to fund Superfund pre-construction activities such as remedial investigations, feasibility studies, remedial designs, and community involvement at double pre-Bipartisan Infrastructure Law levels.
In 1980, Congress passed the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERLCA), known as Superfund. The law gave EPA the authority and funds to hold polluters accountable for cleaning up the most contaminated sites across the country. When no viable responsible party is found or cannot afford the cleanup, EPA steps in to address risks to human health and the environment using funds appropriated by Congress, like the funding provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
To see a list of the 25 sites to receive funding for new cleanup projects, visit EPA's Superfund webpage.
To see highlights from the first two years of Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding at Superfund sites, visit EPA's Cleaning Up Superfund Sites: Highlights of Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Funding website.
For more information about EPA's Superfund program, visit EPA's Superfund website.
Follow EPA Region 2 on X and visit our Facebook page. For more information about EPA Region 2, visit our website.
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