State extends Dyno Nobel comment period
The state Department of Environmental Conservation has extended by 30 days the comment period regarding the planned cleanup of the Hercules Powder Co./Dyno Nobel property off Route 9W.
The town asked for a 90-extension, until June 21, but the department on Friday said April 23 will be the new cutoff date.
The plan calls for the removal of explosive and chemical contamination at the site.
At a stakeholder’s meeting Wednesday evening, several town officials and neighbors of the site said the voluminous data in the cleanup plan cannot be evaluated before the initial deadline of March 24.
“Town officials and stakeholders recognize the complexity involved in remedying a site that currently represents a significant threat to public health and the environment,” town attorney Kyle Barnett wrote in a letter to the state environmental agency. “Of equal concern is the amount of explosive material that may become a permanent fixture on the site.”
Hercules Powder, and later Dyno Nobel, manufactured explosive primer and igniters for mining, quarrying, seismic and construction industries on about 100 acres of the company’s 260acre property off Route 9W in Port Ewen.
Operations at the site were begun in 1912 by the Brewster Explosives Co. Hercules took over in 1922, followed by IRECO and 1985. IRECO changed its name to Dyno Nobel in 1993, and Dyno Nobel was sold to Incitec Pivot in 2008.
Manufacturing at the Port
Ewen site ceased in 2010.
The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) says there are 39 solidwaste management areas on the site, which includes three wetlands that were used to dispose of various wastes and explosives. The department says explosive materials in some of the disposal areas still have the potential to be ignited.
The state proposes removing 18,000 cubic yards of sediment in wetlands and drainage areas, treating a plume of contaminated groundwater, and installing vapor-treatment systems in buildings on the site.
Esopus officials said at
Wednesday’s meeting that they would like more information about how the state evaluated the site and what information was used to develop the cleanup plan. They also questioned whether the cleanup, expected to cost $10.3 million, would be sufficient to return any of the contaminated areas to commercial usability.
“In bringing it up to commercial [zoning standards], there a series of ... objectives that need to be met,” town Supervisor Shannon Harris said. “I don’t know if those are sufficient; they don’t speak to that. So there’s a ... misalignment in the analysis the DEC is proposing.”
The cleanup plan is available online at on.ny. gov/2OjUkQ8. Comments can be emailed to salvatore. priore@dec.ny.gov.