The public comment period has ended. The agencies should be replying to all those who submitted comments within the next few months.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the NYS Department of Health (DOH) will be holding public involvement sessions regarding some of FMC's off site environmental investigations. The areas of concern for the open sessions will be the Air Deposition Area which is south of the canal to Rochester Rd. (RT 31) and between Main St. and the Orleans County line and the second area of concern are the properties transversed by Culvert 105 to Pearson Rd. These two areas are covered by Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Facilities Investigation (RFI) Volumes I, II and IV.
The sessions will be held at the Middleport Fire Hall, 28 Main St. on Wednesday, June 10, 2009, where the public can discuss the investigations, ask questions and make comments concerning the contents of the three volumes or any other matters pertaining to the remediation activities in Middleport. There will be two sessions. One from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM will be informal where the public can talk, one-on-one, with members of the agencies or the FMC Corporation. The other session will be held from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM and will start off with brief presentations by the agencies and FMC and then be opened to the public so verbal comments can be made and be placed in the record. Written comments can also be handed to the agencies during both sessions.
A written comment period will run from May 18 to July 2, 2009 where the public can send in their comments to the agencies. These comments should be mailed to:
Mr. Matt Mortifolio
NYSDEC Project Manager
625 Broadway
Albany, NY 12233-7258
To view the text, maps and data tables of the RFI Volumes click here [3].
The complete volumes are available in the FMC Document Repository at the Middleport Village Library, 9 Vernon St. or at the FMC House at 17 Vernon St.
For more information you can go to the DEC web site by clicking here [4].
For a brief description of the three RFI Volumes, click the Read Full Article link below.
RFI Volume I provides historic background information on FMC's facility operations and potential environmental impacts to the surrounding area. Included are descriptions of FMC's historic pesticide production process, it's spill and air emissions history and it's on site waste disposal areas. Also included is the regional setting with some history of activities in the Middleport area. The volume summarizes FMC's environmental investigations and Interim Corrective Measures (ICM's) performed to date.
RFI Volume II provides information on the nature and extent of FMC related chemical contamination of soil and sediment on off site properties within the Air Deposition Area and along Culvert 105 south of the canal. Over 5600 soil and sediment samples were collected from over 2400 locations and are included in tables. This volume also includes details on the ICM's performed by FMC on properties within the defined area. These activities include removal and/or replacement of contaminated soils on the Royalton-Hartland School athletic fields, 14 properties west of the FMC facility on South Vernon St., 12 properties north of the facility on Park Ave. and the removal and/or covering of contaminated soil on a commercial property north of the facility and behind some of the properties on Park Ave. Click here [5] for a map of the area covered by this volume.
RFI Volume IV provides information on the nature and extent of FMC related chemical contamination of soil and sediment along Culvert 105 north of the canal. Over 1400 soils and sediment samples were collected from over 330 locations along the culvert with the data included in tables. North of the canal some sections of the culvert are open ditches while some are covered pipe installed at various times through history. For sections that were or are open ditches, there may have been historical lateral migration of contamination as a result of high water situations and/or flooding. Click here [6] for a map of the area covered by this volume.
