Ithaca, N.Y. — Ithaca is home to several sites with toxic contamination, most notably the old Emerson factory on South Hill, where industrial degreasers were spilled and dumped by a previous owner in the 1970s.
Contaminants like Trichloroethylene (TCE) and Tetrachloroethene (PERC) can remain in soil and groundwater for decades, slowly vaporizing inside homes and other buildings where they can harm people.
Here’s everything you need to know about toxic sites in Ithaca in 6 questions and 6 answers. Click on the question to find your answer.
1 – Is there a toxic site near me?
2 – There is a site near me. Should I be worried?
3 – What kind of health problems do these contaminants cause?
4 – Do these places ever get cleaned up?
5 – Who has to pay for these cleanups?
6 – With all these toxins around, is it safe to grow a garden in the city?
(Did we miss your question? If so, email me at jstein@ithacavoice.com.)
1 – Is there a toxic site near me?
The state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) maintains a list of all Superfund sites — those part of a federal program to clean up uncontrolled hazardous waste — by county. You can check it here (http://www.dec.ny.gov/). Ithaca-based Toxics Targeting (http://www.toxicstargeting.) also provides a free mapping service of toxic sites across New York State, and you can order more comprehensive environmental reports for a fee.
2 – There is a site near me. Should I be worried?
That depends; not all “Superfund” sites are created equal, and accidents of geology may leave one home with serious contamination while the home next door has little or none.
The Tompkins County Public Library hosts a collection of extensive reports on every Superfund site in the county. Many of those reports include maps with information about soil, water, and/or indoor air testing for contaminants.
If you live on South Hill, you can also check out the Ithaca South Hill Industrial Pollution website (http://www.ithaca-ship.org/), which contains reams of information on the Emerson site.
If you have questions or concerns about a site near you, you can also call the DEC (we’re Region 7) at 315-426-7551, or the Department of Health at (800) 458-1158.
3 – What kinds of health problems do these contaminants cause?
Depending on the level and length of exposure, TCE, for example, can cause anything from a headache to cancer. The federal Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry (http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/) contains an A to Z index of toxic chemicals, with information on how each chemical enters the environment and how it might affect human health, among other things.
The New York State Department of Health also maintains fact sheets (http://www.health.ny.gov/) about a variety of potentially toxic chemicals.
4 – Do these places ever get cleaned up?
Yes. There are some really heartening success stories in Ithaca’s recent past. The block just north of the Greater Ithaca Activities Center and Beverly J. Martin Elementary on Court Street used to be heavily contaminated with carcinogenic coal tar. The near-century-old contamination was left behind by a predecessor of NYSEG, but the bulk of the coal tar has now been removed.
The Ithaca Gun factory on East Hill was another hazardous site, contaminated primarily with lead from the old factory’s bullets. An extensive remediation enabled the site’s redevelopment into the high-end Gun Hill Residences.
The old National Cash Register factory on South Hill, just up the street from Emerson, contained some of the same pollutants found at Emerson (though at a much smaller scale). The factory was renovated into the South Hill Business Campus, which now houses office space for lawyers, accountants, tech startups, and other small businesses.
5 – Who has to pay for these cleanups?
Under state law, the “responsible party,” or the company that did the polluting, is supposed to pay. Sometimes that works — the coal tar on Court Street was left by a NYSEG predecessor, and NYSEG has paid for the cleanup. Cleanup costs for the Emerson site have so far been borne by Emerson and Borg Warner (a descendant of Morse Chain, which is the company that did the polluting back in the 1970s).
Sometimes it doesn’t — the Ithaca Gun company went out of business, so that site was left as a contaminated, attractive-nuisance, fire hazard until 2009, when the state, the city, and private developer Frost Travis agreed to split the cleanup costs. The federal government later reimbursed some of the city’s costs, as well.
6 – With all these toxins around, is it safe to grow a garden in the city?
Unless you live right next to a toxic plume, your biggest concern probably won’t be TCE or PERC, it’ll be lead. Before the 1980s, paint, gasoline, and other every-day, every-house products contained high levels of lead, which we now know to be hazardous to human health. Toxic lead exposure negatively impacts the human nervous system, brain, and kidneys, among other things, according to the ATSDR (http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/).
If you’re worried about lead, the Cornell Nutrient Analysis Laboratory (http://cnal.cals.cornell.edu/http://soilhealth.cals.) can test your garden soil for a variety of heavy metals, for a nominal fee (http://soilhealth.cals.