News Releases from Region 02

EPA Completes Cleanup of FMC Corp. Landfill Superfund Site

NEW YORK  – After the completion of all cleanup work, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has deleted the FMC Corp. Dublin Road Landfill Superfund Site from the National Priorities List, which is the federal Superfund list of the most contaminated hazardous waste sites. The FMC Corp. Dublin Road site is a 30-acre inactive waste site situated between the Towns of Ridgeway and Shelby in Orleans County, New York. Cleanup work at the site included work to cap the landfill, treat groundwater and run-off water, and restore some surrounding wetlands.

“We have successfully completed our work at this site, and now we have removed it from the EPA’s Superfund list,” said EPA Regional Administrator Pete Lopez. “The completed cleanup, monitoring of the landfill cap, and a groundwater treatment system have all worked effectively to not only protect the health of people near the site, but also to protect the EPA-restored wetlands and habitat.”

Deletion of a site from the “National Priorities List” occurs when site cleanups are successfully completed and no further cleanup is required to protect human health or the environment.

The responsible party, FMC, completed the site cleanup with EPA oversight according to the 1993 Record of Decision. EPA will continue to require that the party maintain the landfill cap at the site. EPA will conduct reviews every five years to ensure that the cleanup actions remain effective and protective. EPA accepted public comments on the proposed deletion for 30 days before deleting the site.

Background                                                                            

The FMC Corp. Dublin Road Landfill Superfund Site originally consisted of a rectangular portion of approximately 21 acres lying north of Dublin Road, and a triangular portion of approximately nine acres lying south of Dublin Road. The northern section is partially wooded and contains a wetland, a drainage swale, and two inactive rock quarries, while the southern portion contained a waste pile, a rectangular pond, and a swampy area. Between 1933 and 1968, the Niagara Sprayer/FMC manufacturing plant used the southern portion to dispose coal ash cinders, laboratory wastes consisting of glass bottles and chemical residues, lime-sulfur solution from a filtration process, building debris, and residues from the cleanup of pesticide production areas and equipment. These waste materials were placed in an engineered waste pile, both above the ground and below the ground.

The federal Superfund cleanup at the site included:

• Installing a secure landfill cap to prevent contaminants from leaching out of the landfill into the groundwater.
• Treating groundwater using a system to pump it from the ground and treating contaminated runoff water.
• Restoring on-site wetlands. 
• Putting deed restrictions into place at the site to ensure future development won’t interfere with the cleanup infrastructure such as the cap.
• Ongoing activities, including groundwater sampling.

For more information about the FMC Corp. Dublin Road Landfill Superfund site, visit: https://19january2021snapshot.epa.gov/superfund/fmc-dublin-road

Congress created the Superfund program in 1980 to protect human health and the environment by responding to releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances, pollutants and contaminants. For nearly 40 years, in communities across the country, Superfund has been one of EPA’s most visible and vital programs.

Learn more: https://19january2021snapshot.epa.gov/superfund

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