Contact: Larisa Romanowski, (518) 407-0400, romanowski.larisa@epa.gov

ALBANY, NY (November 18, 2021) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that dredging and capping work is completed at the Grasse River Superfund site (aka Alcoa Aggregation) in Massena, New York. Nearly a quarter million cubic yards of sediment contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have been removed from the Grasse River and over 200 acres of river bottom have been capped.

“This is an important milestone at the Grasse River Superfund site,” said Acting Regional Administrator Walter Mugdan. “We have removed forever about 220,000 cubic yards of PCB-contaminated sediment, which will allow for the recovery of this vital and culturally important river system. This success could not have been achieved without the work of our partners, the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe and New York State.”

EPA selected a cleanup plan for the site in 2013 that called for removing contaminated sediment from near-shore areas in a 7.2-mile stretch of the lower Grasse River and placing a cap on the river bottom in the main channel. Capping material included sand and powdered carbon, which works to capture and chemically bind pollutants in place, as well as some stone and gravel. Additional dredging of contaminated sediment was added to the project in 2020 in the Snug Harbor area, which is a small embayment located on the north shore of the river, to accommodate a new, larger tugboat purchased by the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation, which operates its tugboat out of Snug Harbor.

The dredging and capping work began in 2019 and was completed this fall. During the cleanup, contaminated soil was also removed from two areas along the north shore of the river near the Alcoa Bridge in Massena.

Dredging and capping equipment has been removed from the river and from two shoreline support areas located on Route 131 and Haverstock Road. The Haverstock Road Staging Area, which was used for storing capping material, has been fully restored. The Route 131 Staging Area will continue to be used for river monitoring activities for the next few years. 

Work to reconstruct habitat areas impacted by the project will continue in 2022. The project’s long-term monitoring plan requires fish, water and habitat monitoring to track the recovery of the river over time. The fish consumption advisories established by the New York State Department of Health will remain in effect until PCB concentrations in fish are reduced to the point where the advisories are relaxed or lifted by the state. Capped areas of the river bottom will also be monitored to ensure that the caps placed on the river bottom remain intact.

Arconic (formerly Alcoa) is conducting the cleanup and the associated monitoring and habitat restoration work under a 1989 administrative order with EPA.

This fall, EPA also initiated a five-year review of the cleanup that has been conducted so far at the site. The purpose of this review, which is legally required under the Superfund law within five years after the start of on-site construction, is to ensure that the cleanup is working as intended and is protective of public health and the environment. In conducting the review, EPA is reviewing Superfund site operation, maintenance and monitoring information. 

The ongoing five-year review of the Grasse River is expected to be completed by May of 2022. The results will be shared with the public and will be available on the EPA’s Grasse River site webpage at https://www.epa.gov/superfund/alcoa-aggregate and in the local repositories established for the site: Massena Public Library, 41 Glenn Street, Massena, NY; St. Regis Mohawk Tribe – Environment Division, 449 Frogtown Road, Akwesasne, NY; and EPA Region 2 Superfund Records Center, 290 Broadway – 18th Floor, New York, NY 10007.

Project information can be found on the Internet at https://www.epa.gov/superfund/alcoa-aggregate.

For questions or further information about the five-year review of the Grasse River Superfund site, please contact:

Young Chang, Remedial Project Manager

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

290 Broadway, 19th Floor

New York, NY 10007-1866

Email: chang.young@epa.gov

Phone: (212) 637-4253

Follow EPA Region 2 on Twitter at http://twitter.com/eparegion2 and visit our Facebook page, http://facebook.com/eparegion2

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