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EPA to Demolish Building; Start Final Steps to Clean Up Gloversville Tannery

Release Date: 08/09/2001
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(#01094) New York, New York -- Today EPA begins demolition of a contaminated building at the site of the former Independent Leather Manufacturing Co. in Gloversville, New York, finishing a large portion of the Agency=s cleanup work at the site. The main building is one of two on the site that are contaminated with chemicals used in the leather tanning process. EPA is demolishing the building because it is structurally unsound, making it unsafe to clean up the basement where the contamination is located. The site will be commercially redeveloped under New York State's Brownfields program. EPA is cleaning up the site using money's from Superfund, which provides funding to address contaminated sites that have been abandoned. "This site has a lot of potential. It's in an idyllic location and the contamination at the site is relatively easy to address. Once we remove the contamination, this site could be put to use -- so this cleanup is a real boost to both the environment and the local economy." said Paul Kahn, EPA's On-Scene Coordinator for the site, who is overseeing the cleanup. EPA will disassemble the building in sections, taking care to recycle valuable pine beams and flooring. Debris from the building will then be recycled or properly disposed of. The entire demolition process will take about 20 days. A second building on the site is being cleaned at the same time EPA is demolishing the main building. This second building will not be demolished because it is structurally sound and readily accessible for safe cleaning. EPA has been at work at the site since April 2001. City officials became alarmed this year when a heavy snowfall caused a partial roof collapse that threatened to release chemicals abandoned in the building by the former owner. The Agency has done extensive sampling and consolidated and secured more than 350 containers of chemicals and contaminated soil from the basement of both buildings. The Superfund cleanup for the entire site will have an estimated price tag of about $1.3 million, and should be completed by October 2001.