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Hazardous Waste Cleanup: Clean Harbors BTD, LLC in Clarence, New York

On this page:

  • Cleanup Status
  • Site Description
  • Contaminants at this Facility
  • Site Responsibility

Cleanup Status 

The RCRA facility assessment for RCRA remediation was completed on July 11, 1988, and the RCRA facility investigation work plan was implemented and approved in 2005.  Approximately 260 cubic yards of soil were removed from the areas impacted by the firefighting water, and two monitoring wells were installed in the overburden and bedrock to assess the groundwater quality. As a result of the soil and groundwater sampling and soil removal activities, no further action was required. RCRA corrective action was terminated on December 28, 2008.


Site Description

The Clean Harbors BDT, LLC site was a commercial treatment, storage, and disposal facility that treated reactive hazardous wastes, pressurized waste, pharmaceutical and packaged laboratory chemicals. The facility was initially owned and operated by Wilson-Greatbatch, Inc. It was subsequently sold to Laidlaw Environmental Services, then to Safety-Kleen, Inc., and finally to Clean Harbors BDT, LLC.

The facility received and treated hazardous wastes from off-site generators, mainly from Canada. These ignitable and reactive wastes were destroyed on-site in a RCRA-exempt incinerator. The incinerator operated pursuant to a Title V air permit. Residues from treatment were disposed off-site.

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) inspections reported that the facility was well managed and there were no releases of hazardous wastes or hazardous waste constituents beyond the secondary containment structures during operation of the facility. However, on August 14, 2002, a fire occurred at the Clean Harbors facility which consumed large portions of the waste stored at the facility. All remaining waste was removed by March 14, 2003. 


Contaminants at this Facility

On August 15, 2002, samples of the firefighting water were collected and sampled. NYSDEC and New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) concluded that the firefighting runoff water did not present a short-term or long-term threat to public health and the environment via the groundwater pathway. Clean Harbors completed the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) facility investigation in September 2005. Based on a review of the RCRA facility investigation, NYSDEC and NYSDOH determined that no further RCRA corrective action was required.


Site Responsibility at this Facility

NYSDEC is responsible for administering the corrective action program under a New York State Part 373 hazardous waste facility permit.

There is no active permit for managing hazardous waste at the facility. A NYSDEC order on consent issued in 2003 required Clean Harbors to submit a RCRA facility investigation work plan to evaluate the nature and extent of contamination associated with the soil and groundwater.