General News: DEC Investigating Mill Site
January 30, 2012
By Nancy Peckenham
A few months before the fire that destroyed large sections of the Cornwall Industrial Park on Mill Street, the state Department of Environmental Conservation opened an investigation to determine if there is any residual chemicals or other contaminants on the site that could pose a danger to human health.
DEC spokeswoman Wendy Rosenbach said that a couple of months before the fire, the agency began looking to see if two underground storage tanks had been removed and if they had contaminated the soil nearby. In addition, the DEC is reviewing sediment samples from the Moodna Creek and two lagoons on the property.
In addition, the agency is in the process of collecting air samples inside the buildings on the 69-acre site to determine if contaminants in groundwater and/or soil are accumulating beneath building slabs and inside buildings. It is unclear if how the fire will impact the investigation, which could still be carried out in the remaining structures on the site.
The last time the DEC took samples was in 1998. At that time, the state found that the level of contamination left behind by the textile dye operation run by Majestic Weaving from 1963 to 1981 was not a significant threat to health. The trace chemicals found included toluene, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, tetrachloroethene, xylene, trichlorobenzene and chlorobenzene. Trace amounts of lead, magnesium, mercury and zinc were found in the lagoons.
Some drum filled with solvents and other chemicals were removed in the early 1990s but no other actions were required at the time.
Spokesperson Rosenbach said that the state is conducting the current investigation and any costs associated with it will be charged back to the owners.
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