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EPA Proposes Site in Herkimer County Be Added To The Superfund National Priorities List

Release Date: 09/30/1998
Contact Information:

(#98138) NEW YORK, N.Y. -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to add the Hiteman Leather site at 173 South Street in West Winfield, New York to the federal Superfund National Priorities List (NPL). The site was operated as a leather tanning facility from 1820 to 1968, when it was closed . In mid-1996, EPA found high levels of chromium in soils and surface water at the site. This proposed addition to the NPL, along with two other proposed New York State sites, brings the total number of federal Superfund sites in New York to 84.

The NPL is the federal list of the nation's worst hazardous waste sites. The Agency periodically proposes sites to the NPL and designates proposed sites as final. Proposed sites are investigated further to determine the extent of the risks they may pose to human health and the environment. Sites that are placed on the final NPL are eligible for long-term "remedial action" financed under the Superfund Trust Fund.

According to EPA Regional Administrator Jeanne M. Fox, "The proposed listing of the Hiteman Leather site in the Catskills will guarantee a permanent solution that will protect the area's wetlands, surface waters and groundwater. Without Superfund, communities are left with no way to address the serious hazardous waste sites that threaten their local environments and economies."

The following is a description of the site to be proposed to the NPL:

The HITEMAN LEATHER COMPANY site contained buildings (several deteriorating), three interconnected wastewater settling lagoons, a two acre wetlands area adjacent to the lagoons and a section of the Unadilla River. By 1964, approximately 180,000 gallons of industrial wastewater was discharged from the tannery daily into three unlined settling lagoons on the site, which periodically overflowed into the adjacent Unadilla River. The site has been inactive since 1968, with the exception of the buildings which were intermittently used for storage.

EPA performed an investigation of the site in mid-1996. In addition to finding high levels of chromium in the surface soil and water, the agency also detected low levels of other heavy metals, pesticides, semivolatile and volatile organic chemicals. A structural evaluation determined that most of the buildings and the stack at the site were structurally unsound and demolition was recommended. The deteriorated buildings were demolished by EPA in the fall of 1996. The remaining buildings were demolished in the spring of 1998.

EPA is soliciting public comments on its proposed listing of the Hiteman Leather site on the NPL. The 60-day public comment period started yesterday when the NPL update was published in the Federal Register. Members of the public interested in obtaining copies of the notice, an updated NPL list or site descriptions and commenting on the proposed addition, please contact the RCRA/Superfund Hotline at 1-800-424-9346 or 703-412-9810. Further information about the site and the Superfund program can also be obtained from EPA's homepage: www.epa.gov.superfund.

NOTE TO EDITORS: Reporters should contact Rich Cahill at (212) 637-3666 for the above information.

For more information contact:
Richard Cahill, Press Office
EPA Region 2
290 Broadway
NY, NY 10007-1866
Voice: 212-637-3666 FAX: 212-637-5046 E-Mail: [email protected]