Contact: Stephen McBay, (212)-637-3672, McBay.Stephen@epa.gov

NEW YORK (July 27, 2023) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is encouraging the public to comment on its proposed cleanup plan to excavate and remove soil contaminated with volatile organic compounds on the former AVX Corporation (AVX) property at the Olean Well Field Superfund site in Olean, New York. A 30-day public comment period for the proposed plan begins July 27, 2023. EPA will host a public meeting at the Cattaraugus County Campus of Jamestown Community College, 305 North Barry Street, Olean, New York, in the TECH Building, Mangano Reception Room, near the Cutco Theater on August 8, 2023, at 6:00 p.m. to explain this cleanup proposal. EPA is proposing to dig up and dispose of contaminated soil at the AVX Property. This method will protect those at risk as well as remove a source of groundwater contamination.

Today’s proposed plan will address soil contamination that was not fully resolved by prior cleanup actions. The contamination is under and near the former manufacturing building on the AVX Property. The plan calls for:

• Demolishing and removing the concrete slab floor and foundation supports
• Digging out the polluted soil that is not saturated with water
• Transporting and disposing of the dug-out material off-site
• Restoring the area with clean fill material

The Olean Well Field site is an approximately 1.5 square-mile area in Cattaraugus County that contains various wells, homes, and manufacturing facilities. Earlier industrial operations at the AVX property, as well as at three other facilities that EPA considers sources of site contamination, resulted in the contamination of soil and groundwater with trichloroethylene, 1,4-dioxane, and other volatile organic compounds. As a result of the contamination at all four facilities, EPA added the site to the Superfund list in 1983. Since that time, several investigations have led to cleanup remedies for the four source facilities impacting soil and groundwater, most of which are being carried out by parties responsible for the site.

Written comments on EPA's proposed plan may be mailed or emailed to Maeve Wurtz, Remedial Project Manager, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 290 Broadway – 19th Floor, New York, NY 10007, Email: Wurtz.maeve@epa.gov.

Visit the Olean Well Field Superfund site profile page for additional background and to view the proposed plan.

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