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EPA Announces Completion of Construction Needed for Cleanup at Sidney Landfill Site

Release Date: 10/25/2004
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(#04162) NEW YORK -- Construction work needed for the cleanup of the Sidney Landfill Superfund site in Sidney, New York has been completed, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today. The cleanup plan for the site included constructing caps over several disposal areas, extracting and treating contaminated ground water, and performing long-term monitoring to ensure the effectiveness of the remedy. Subsequently, Honeywell International and Amphenol Corporation, the parties responsible for the contamination at the site, agreed to carry out the work in the cleanup plan selected by EPA. The landfill caps were completed in 1999. "The Sidney Landfill site no longer poses a threat to the community and is another Superfund success story," said EPA Regional Administrator Jane M. Kenny. "We will continue to monitor the site to ensure that the health of the public is being protected." The Sidney Landfill operated from 1967 to 1972 and was used for the disposal of municipal, commercial, and industrial wastes. The landfill was poorly operated and was cited by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation because the waste was improperly compacted and covered, there was no supervision of landfill operations, and public access to the site was not controlled. The site was listed on the National Priorities List of the nation's most hazardous waste sites in March 1989. From 1991 to 1995, EPA performed a study to evaluate the nature and extent of the contamination at the site. The results of this study showed that the ground water was contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and that the ground water leaching from the landfill contained VOCs and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The Agency also found that surface soils at the site contained elevated concentrations of pesticides, PCBs, and inorganic compounds. EPA used this information to select a cleanup plan for the site in September 1995. Based on the results of ground water testing and sampling, EPA recently determined that a ground water extraction and treatment system already operating at the nearby Richardson Hill Road Landfill Superfund site was capturing and treating contaminated ground water from the Sidney Landfill site, alleviating the need for a separate system at the Sidney Landfill. The caps at the Sidney Landfill, in combination with the Richardson Hill Road Landfill site ground water extraction and treatment system and natural attenuation, offer the most cost-effective, technically feasible approach to restoring ground water quality in a reasonable time frame.