The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) has approved a work plan to investigate and remove contamination at the 111 Hydraulic Street Site located in Buffalo, NY. The site consists of seven parcels. One parcel is home to a building that formerly had been the Good Door Store, one parcel has a residential structure, and another has a garage. The remaining parcels are vacant. Soils on portions of the site are contaminated with metals (especially lead), petroleum hydrocarbons, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Information on these contaminants is available at the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry ToxFAQ website.

The investigation and the cleanup action, called an Interim Remedial Measure (IRM), will begin in Summer 2010. An IRM is an action that can be taken relatively quickly without extensive investigation to address an obvious environmental problem that may be impacting public health and the environment. The work plan, called a Remedial Investigation/Interim Remedial Measures (RI/IRM) Work Plan, describes the cleanup and also includes a description of actions that will be taken to investigate other areas of the site where the extent of environmental contamination is unknown. The RI/IRM Work Plan is available at the locations identified in this fact sheet and on the DEC website.

Work at the site will be performed under New York State’s Brownfield Cleanup Program (BCP). The BCP provides existing or potential property owners financial incentives to promote the cleanup and redevelopment of brownfield sites. 598 Main Street, LLC, the BCP Volunteer, plans to clean up the Site so that it may be used to construct a two story commercial building and a parking lot.

Are people exposed to contamination?

Currently, there are no known immediate health impacts to the surrounding community, but anyone illegally accessing the site could be exposed to contamination identified in certain areas. The proposed IRM will address these areas of known contamination.

What will the upcoming investigation and cleanup work involve?

The planned IRM work will address immediate environmental concerns posed by contamination at the site. Under the oversight of DEC, upcoming IRM cleanup activities will include:

• Removing contaminated material from a previous spill;

• Preparing buildings for demolition, including the removal of lead and asbestos;

• Demolishing the former Good Door Store, the residential structure, and the garage;

• Excavating and disposing contaminated soils from the site;

• Sampling the sides and floor of the excavation to confirm cleanup objectives have been achieved; and

• Backfilling excavations with clean materials for planned construction.

The remedial investigation (RI) will determine if other areas of the site need to be addressed. The RI work will include:

• Drilling soil borings;

• Installing groundwater monitoring wells; and

• Sampling and analyzing soil and groundwater.

Next steps

598 Main Street, LLC is currently making preparations to undertake the IRM. The cleanup work will take approximately 4 to 6 weeks, and a report detailing results of the cleanup is expected to be available in Fall 2010. In addition, 598 Main Street, LLC will prepare an Alternatives Analysis Report that will describe alternatives for addressing any remaining contamination at the site. NYSDEC will keep the public informed during the cleanup process of the 111 Hydraulic Street Site through fact sheets similar to this one.

Site background

The 111 Hydraulic Street Site is approximately 3 acres and consists of seven parcels (two industrial/commercial and five residential). Currently, only three parcels have standing vacant structures. Since 1940, the industrial/commercial parcels have been used by dry cleaning, linen and laundry services, commercial retail stores, offices, auto body repair shops, gas tank removal and refurbishing services, and door and radiator sand blasting services. Site investigations conducted in 2006-07 and 2009-10 revealed the presence of petroleum hydrocarbons, PAHs, and metals.