[CPEO-BIF] Visit to the DuPont-Stauffer Landfill, Newburgh, New York

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Below is my report on my field visit to Newburgh, New York, to learn 
more about the DuPont-Stauffer Landfill site. For a formatted version 
with a photograph, go to http://www.cpeo.org/brownfields/NewburghNY.doc. 
- LS



Visit to the DuPont-Stauffer Landfill, Newburgh, New York
March 14, 2006
Lenny Siegel

On March 14, 2006, I visited Newburgh, New York and viewed the 
Dupont-Stauffer Landfill site. My host was Rudy LaMarr, Executive 
Director of the Newburgh Community Action Committee (NCAC). I was also 
briefed by one of his associates, George Tukel. In late 2003 I wrote a 
profile of NCAC for the NIEHS Minority Worker Training Program, but this 
was my first visit to the community.

Newburgh is one of the few cities on the Mid-Hudson River with a genuine 
waterfront. Over 65 percent of its nearly 28,000 residents are black or 
Hispanic. NCAC is a social service organization that broadened its 
mission in the late 1990s to engage in economic development. In 1997 it 
signed an agreement with Stauffer Chemical, current owner of the nearly 
50-acre Landfill property, in which Stauffer agreed to donate the 
property to NCAC once remediation is completed.

DuPont (from 1911 to 1967) and later Stauffer produced coated fabrics at 
a manufacturing facility across the road, and Stauffer also manufactured 
polyvinyl chloride (PVC) sheeting. The plant closed in January 1979. 
Creek Industrial Center purchased the plant in 1979, but Stauffer and 
DuPont retained the undeveloped landfill property. According to the New 
York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), "The site consists 
of two waste disposal areas referred to as the South and North 
Landfills. The South Landfill was reportedly used for storage, burning 
and burial of various plant wastes and residual waste ash. The North 
Landfill contained an incinerator that was used to burn wastes and an 
open field used for evaporation and disposal purposes." Hazardous wastes 
include volatile organics, semi-volatile organics, and metals.

DEC and the New York Department of Health are currently taking public 
comments on a proposed remedial action plan. The site is being addressed 
under a Consent Order with Stauffer, which is responsible for paying for 
remedial action. The agencies propose to send hazardous wastes to an 
approved landfill and to consolidate and cap other wastes in the North 
Landfill area. The site will be limited, with institutional controls, to 
restricted-commercial uses, and long-term monitoring will be required. 
The estimated cost of the preferred remedy is about $12 million. An 
alternative, removal of all wastes from the property, would cost 
approximately $24 million.

The first Consent Order was signed in 1999. NCAC expects the state to 
approve the proposed remedy as early as April, 2006, and it hopes than 
remedial action to be completed in several months. Thus far, no 
opposition to the proposed plan has emerged.

NCAC envisions open space at the consolidated North Landfill, 
recreational open space along the creek that forms the western boundary, 
and an ecological industrial park consisting of several buildings. It 
plans to participate in New York's green building program; it hopes to 
attract manufacturers of building materials made from recycled products; 
and it eventually wants users to be connected according to the 
principles of industrial ecology, in which the waste of one manufacturer 
serves as feedstock for another.

NCAC expects to own the land outright. It doesn't anticipate 
environmental issues to be a major obstacle to redevelopment, but it is 
willing to stage development, building in the southern portion of the 
property first. When I mentioned the potential for surprises - that is, 
new pollution discoveries - Rudy and George agreed that environmental 
insurance will be a must. I also suggest that they ask DEC to supplement 
the monitoring requirements with contingency plans that would define the 
likely responses should additional soil or vapor contamination be 
discovered.

NCAC is looking for grants, other subsidies, and private sector partners 
to help finance and carry out construction. I suggested that they also 
seek solar power companies that might want to install photovoltaic 
systems on project roofspace. Energy generated on-site could power the 
buildings.

Once cleanup issues are resolved, NCAC may be able to develop the 
property quickly, if it can find the funding. This is a great 
opportunity for community-led brownfields development.


--
Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org

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