Brownfield Site

Complete and Ongoing Activities

  • Pre-treating and discharging over 35 million gallons of ground and surface water, including over 5 million gallons to the Town of Tonawanda Publicly Owned Treatment Works for tertiary treatment.
  • Treating and discharging over 200 million gallons of surface water to the regulated outfall on Site 109.
  • Disposing of over 4,100 tons of solid waste for proper offsite disposal.
  • Removing and disposing offsite 3,600 tons of asbestos containing materials.
  • Removing for treatment and offsite disposal 6,700 tons of hazardous waste.
  • Characterizing and either recycling or incinerating 32 tons (~8,500 gallons) of non-hazardous liquids.
  • Grading surfaces to reduce erosion and infiltration to the perched groundwater system.
  • Reusing or recycling 9,700 tons of miscellaneous, non-hazardous material.
  • Demolishing three stacks, boiler house, compressor building, light oil buildings, battery building, coal charging building, exhauster building, pump house, mixing pad, and various other buildings; all coke plant process buildings have been demolished.
    • Only buildings being used for remediation of the Brownfield site remain.
  • Removing the contents of above ground storage tanks and proper removal of the tanks.
    • Thirty-two above ground storage tanks and four tanker rail cars have been cleaned and removed.
    • Two weak ammonia tanks are undergoing closure.
    • The remaining tank rail car will be removed in the spring, completing the removal of all above ground storage tanks.
  • Removed above ground process piping by disposing the contents and recycling the steel; less than 200 feet of above ground piping remains and it is empty.
  • Removed all of the large process vessels used to treat the Coke Oven Gas.
  • Upgrading and implementing site security, including re-establishment of the security camera system and use of security guards, fencing and cameras.
  • Surveying of the site using drone technology and on-site control points.
  • Cleaning of the north storm sewer, box culvert, Mansion Sump, sanitary sewer, and settling ponds.
  • Sealing sections of the box culvert to protect surface water from groundwater infiltration.
  • Dewatered the coal yard tunnel and battery exhaust tunnel (aka “Waste Heat Tunnel”), removed asbestos-containing materials, and inspecting by independent third-party asbestos company; only remaining asbestos containing material is in limited floor and ceiling tiles.
  • Cleaning, repairing, and placing back in service Settling Ponds with more than twice the retention capacity.
  • Operation of Groundwater treatment IRM Work Plan; demonstrating effective groundwater control and treatment.
    • Five groundwater collection trenches effectively collect the shallow groundwater in the former production area.
  • Regrading the coal and coke yards to control erosion and eliminate areas of surface water accumulation.
  • Air monitoring during intrusive activities; results are posted here.
  • Monitoring of groundwater and surface water elevations associated with the remedial investigation and groundwater IRM.
  • Collection analysis and evaluation of more than 700 samples associated with site management and IRMs, in addition to the hundreds of samples collected for the remedial investigation.
  • Surface Materials Management and disposal and recycling of materials as appropriate; more than 80 specific site management tasks have been completed.
  • Weekly, monthly, and comprehensive reporting for ongoing site management, Interim Remedial Measures, and investigations.
  • Submission of the Revised Draft Remedial Investigation Report to the NYSDEC and NYSDOH.
  • Ongoing revision of the Alternatives Analysis Report for the NYSDEC and the NYSDOH.

Brownfield Cleanup Program Documents