The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) announced today
the completion of Phase 1 of the soil cleanup at the Royalton-Hartland
(Roy-Hart) School property in Middleport, Niagara County. With
approximately 12,000 cubic yards of arsenic-contaminated soil excavated
from the Roy-Hart Field Hockey field in the southeast portion of the
school property, restoration of this area is now complete.
"We are pleased with the progress that we have been able achieve this year," DEC Acting Commissioner Marc Gerstman said. "DEC worked cooperatively with the school to ensure the least disruption of school activities would occur."
The 2.5-acre remediation is part of the overall 14.4-acre remediation of the school property required under the FMC Corporation Site Final Statement of Basis (FSB) issued in May 2013. The 2013 FSB requires the removal of arsenic contamination exceeding the 20 parts per million soil cleanup objective from the Roy-Hart School property.
DEC officials worked with the Roy-Hart Board of Education and school district officials to develop a construction schedule and the field hockey area will be available for use beginning in the spring.
Work also started last week on Phase 2 of the cleanup. The DEC, in consultation with the NYS Department of Health, is conducting removal and disposal of arsenic-contaminated soil at three of the 182 residential properties in the Village of Middleport identified for cleanup pursuant to the FSB.
This initial removal will be followed by additional work in the spring 2016 to address the remaining properties in the K and M block area for which designs are currently underway. DEC intends to continue this cleanup until it addresses all properties for which homeowners have provided consent.
Additional information regarding the FMC Middleport facility cleanup may be found on DEC's website.
