News Release
U.S. EPA Region 2
October 2, 2023
EPA Finalizes Cleanup Plan for Lehigh Valley Railroad Derailment Superfund Site in Genesee County, New York
NEW YORK – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized its cleanup plan to address contaminated groundwater, soil, bedrock, soil vapor and surface water at the Lehigh Valley Railroad Derailment site located in LeRoy, New York. EPA held a public meeting on August 29, 2023, to explain the proposed plan to the community and take comments. The finalized plan, released today, addresses the remaining contamination from the historic train accident that spilled trichloroethylene (TCE) onto the ground and caused the groundwater contamination.
“We handled the most immediate threats by working with the state to remove contamination and connect people to a safe source of drinking water,” said Regional Administrator Lisa F. Garcia. “This final cleanup plan addresses the last of the contaminated legacy of this derailment and turns the page to the final chapter of our work at this site.”
The site includes the location of a former train derailment that occurred on December 6, 1970, at the Gulf Road crossing in the Town of LeRoy. Two tank cars ruptured and spilled approximately 30,000 gallons of TCE onto the ground. A third car containing a crystalline form of cyanide was also reported to have partially spilled. The cyanide was recovered shortly after the derailment, however the TCE was flushed with water, and it seeped into the ground, resulting in a 4-mile-long plume of TCE contamination. EPA placed the site on the Superfund List in 1999 and has been addressing the site in several stages, including an early removal response, as well as remedial actions known as operable units (OUs), where EPA worked with the state on a waterline and oversaw vapor mitigation work in affected homes and a soil cleanup in the spill area.
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For the entire release, see
https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-finalizes-cleanup-plan-lehigh-valley-railroad-derailment-superfund-site-genesee
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Lenny Siegel Executive Director Center for Public Environmental Oversight A project of the Pacific Studies Center P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042 Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918
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