Ithaca Gun / Ithaca Falls

The scene enclosed by the chain link and barbed wire fence surrounding the 2.1 acre property at 121-125 Lake Street represents your typical demolition site – save for a few transformers leaking dielectric fluid, federally-mandated aerosol lead monitors stationed around the perimeter and signs that read: “Danger: Asbestos, Cancer and Lung Disease Hazard. Authorized Personnel Only."

As the Ithaca Gun demolition proceeds, three members of the Community Advisory Group are questioning whether the city and state are doing enough to protect neighbors from potentially contaminated dust.

Group member Walter Hang sent an e-mail to Mayor Carolyn Peterson last week arguing that the demolition contractors are not using enough water to suppress dust and that there is insufficient monitoring to know whether potentially contaminated demolition dust is moving off-site. Hang is president of Ithaca-based Toxics Targeting, which maps polluted and hazardous sites in New York state.

Ithaca Gun is slated to be demolished by the beginning of September. The big question is, however, will all pollutants be removed prior to taking down the building? The demolition of a toxic building without entirely removing all enclosed pollutants poses a severe risk to the public health and surrounding neighborhoods.

ITHACA — After more than a century as an icon on Ithaca's East Hill, the Ithaca Gun factory could be gone by this summer.

Demolition of the dilapidated and environmentally contaminated factory could begin by “late June, early July,” said Nels Bohn, director of the Ithaca Urban Renewal Agency. How long it will take to finish demolition will depend on the contractor, but it could be as little as a month, he said.

The project is going forward even though the city has not yet secured a state grant needed to clean up lead and other pollution in the ground around the factory.

ITHACA — Groundwater testing at Ithaca Gun has identified the presence of TCE above the standard established by the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

Samples were taken from three groundwater monitoring wells on the property in November 2007, said Mary Jane Peachey, a DEC engineer. Two of the three samples registered trichloroethylene, or TCE, readings above the state's groundwater standard of 5 parts per billion: one location between the factory and the smokestack was 152 ppb; one location near the smokestack was 98 ppb.

Ithacans were recently shocked to discover that state and federal environmental officials failed to clean up lead contamination at Ithaca Falls despite announcing in 2004 that a $4.8 million remediation was finished. I was probably more disappointed than anyone since I had worked closely with the agencies and felt a keen sense of betrayal by authorities who I trusted to keep their word.

ITHACA — Another set of soil tests from near the former Ithaca Gun factory site show levels of lead contamination that can pose a health risk to humans.

The tests were made by a Cornell University student earlier this spring. The student's tests follow similar findings of high levels of lead, arsenic, cadmium and chromium in soils tests made two weeks ago in that area by The Ithaca Journal and Toxics Targeting of Ithaca.

ITHACA — Lead and arsenic contamination found on City of Ithaca property test at concentrations that could pose a risk to human health.

Soil analyses from the property adjacent to the former Ithaca Gun Factory show levels of lead contamination as high as 184,000 parts per million. Arsenic was found in concentrations of 2,210 parts per million. Both
concentrations are well above federal and state guidelines.

The Ithaca Gun Company's former site has been the subject of much controversy as all groups involved have resisted taking responsibility for a potentially expensive cleanup after investigators uncovered lead contamination there. A group of Ithaca residents responded in a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) protesting the current settlement for the factory's cleanup.