New York City has agreed to reimburse the Environmental Protection Agency $659,037 in response costs for the radioactively contaminated Wolff-Alport Superfund Site in Queens.
The city owns part of the site, which encompasses the former property of the Wolff-Alport Chemical Co. and businesses, sidewalks, streets, and sewers in the surrounding area.
The company, over a period of three decades ending in 1954, produced radioactive waste as a byproduct of retrieval of rare earth materials through processing of monazite sand. For many years the waste was deposited into the sewer system or the Wolff-Alport property, the EPA said in July in announcing a $39.4 million remediation plan for the site.
In a proposed settlement with New York City, the EPA said it has taken a number of measures to address the release or potential release of hazardous materials at or from the site, including a removal site assessment, radon surveying and sampling, a pilot study on shielding, and placement of concrete and concrete-lead shielding within some buildings at the site and alongside the sidewalk on one nearby street.
The public has until Oct. 2 to comment on the proposed settlement. “EPA will consider all comments received and may modify or withdraw its consent to the settlement if the comments received disclose facts or considerations that indicate that the proposed settlement is inappropriate, improper, or inadequate,” according to an Aug. 31 notice in the Federal Register.
The agreement would take effect would take effect immediately upon written notice from the EPA that the public comment period has ended and that the agency does not intend to withdraw from or revise the deal.
