Governor Hochul Announces $2.4 Million to Complete Cleanup of Six Contaminated Sites

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced $2.4 million in grants to help five municipalities clean up contamination at six sites targeted for redevelopment. The city of Syracuse, town of Bedford, city of Newburgh, city of Rome, and city of Fulton will each receive funding through the State Department of Environmental Conservation's Environmental Restoration Program, which helps local governments clean up sites with historic contamination and put the properties back into productive use.

"My administration is committed to the continued pursuit of environmental and economic restoration in every corner of our state," Governor Hochul said. "I grew up near a steel plant that turned Lake Erie into a dumping ground for toxic waste and I know first-hand the power and potential of cleanup projects like these ones to turn a community around. These projects will breathe new life into communities that have been too long ignored by transforming contaminated and unusable sites into engines of economic productivity."

The Environmental Restoration Program (ERP) was created in 1996 and provides grants to reimburse eligible costs at municipally-owned brownfield properties to help promote redevelopment. The State Department of Environmental Conservation(DEC) oversees ERP cleanups, with a total of 140 sites completed to date. Funding for the grants is primarily through the State's Hazardous Waste Cleanup Account where up to $10 million a year is used to investigate and clean up ERP sites in communities across the state. The city of Syracuse, town of Bedford, city of Newburgh, city of Rome, and city of Fulton will each enter into funding agreements with DEC, with the municipality responsible for a 10 percent share of the project cost.

Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos said, "Our Environmental Restoration Program is one of several successful resources New York State employs to incentivize the investigation and cleanup of contaminated sites across the state so that communities can put these properties back into productive reuse and address potential health and environmental risks. Both with the critical enhancements made during the budget to the Brownfield Cleanup Program and today's ERP announcement for these six communities, Governor Hochul continues to help revitalize neighborhoods and build stronger, healthier communities."

To complement publicly funded cleanup work undertaken by municipalities through the ERP, Governor Hochul's Fiscal Year 2023 Enacted State Budget extended and expanded New York State's thriving Brownfield Cleanup Program (BCP), which helps spur private investment in redeveloping contaminated properties. The Budget reauthorized the program for 10 years and improves the BCP by incentivizing cleanups in disadvantaged communities. Additionally, the program reaffirms Governor Hochul's commitment to affordable housing development by expanding the universe of affordable housing programs eligible for BCP property tax credits, providing vital benefits to incentivize the redevelopment of brownfields as much-needed affordable housing. Further, the BCP now encourages the development of certain renewable energy facility sites, with new tax credits, to help focus BCP-driven redevelopment and meet the State's ambitious climate goals.

Projects receiving funding as part of the latest round of ERP grants include:

Oneida County
City of Rome: $1,100,261
The 1030 East Dominick Street Site is a former gasoline station dating back to the 1950s. In 1999, the three underground storage tanks (USTs) were removed, and since that time, the site has operated as an automobile maintenance and repair facility. The funding will be used to implement the DEC's cleanup plan that will address soil and groundwater contaminated by volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs).

Onondaga County
City of Syracuse: $472,770
The Zip Zip Mini Market Site operated as a retail gasoline business until 1997, when a fire destroyed the service building. Contamination is believed to be the result of four underground storage tanks, which were left at the property without being closed properly. The funding will be used to implement DEC's cleanup plan that will address soil and groundwater contaminated by VOCs, SVOCs, pesticides, and metals such as lead and zinc.

Westchester County
Town of Bedford: $386,911
The Crusher Road Site has been the location of the Town of Bedford Department of Public Works for more than 50 years. The funding will be used to implement the DEC's cleanup plan that will address soil and groundwater contaminated by VOCs, specifically tetrachloroethylene (PCE) and its associated degradation products (trichloroethene, dichloroethane, and vinyl chloride).

Oswego County
City of Fulton: $225,007
The 308 Harrison Street (Formerly Fulton Mall) site was used for manufacturing operations from 1907 through 1955. Historic newspapers indicate that the site was used as an illegal municipal solid waste dumping site for at least one year, around1916. The site was used as a moving and storage facility from 1960 to the mid-1970s. More recently, it was the site of Fulton Mall, which was demolished in the fall of 2003. The grant will be used to implement DEC's cleanup plan that will addresssoil and groundwater contaminated by VOCs, SVOCs, and metals such as copper and lead.

Orange County
City of Newburgh: $73,064
The 7-11 Johnes Street site is a former dry cleaning business where petroleum was stored underground. The business opened in 1954 and operated for approximately 40 years before the city of Newburgh took the property for back taxes. The grant will be used to implement the DEC's cleanup plan that will address soil and groundwater that is contaminated by VOCs, SVOCs, and metals such as lead and mercury.

City of Newburgh: $120,212
The 350-352 Liberty Street site is a former gasoline station that operated from 1954 until the mid-1980s. The site contained several USTs and one aboveground storage tank. The grant will be used to implement DEC's cleanup plan that will address soil and groundwater contaminated by VOCs, SVOCs, and metals such as arsenic, lead, and mercury.

For more information about the ERP, BCP, and other DEC cleanup programs, visit https://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/brownfields.html.