Ithaca Journal

ITHACA -- The State Department of Environmental Conservation has requested additional testing be done around a toxic spill site in the city, while neighbors have banded together to request more information about
the pollution.

DEC Region 7 Engineer Mary Jane Peachey said on May 28 that Emerson Power Transmission will, at DEC's request, perform vadose zone testing around areas potentially affected by decades-old toxic solvent spills around the company's plant. The vadose zone is the area between the surface soil and the groundwater table.

ITHACA -- A spokesman for Emerson Power Transmission on Wednesday said the company has worked closely with regulatory officials to insure that decades-old toxic spillage at the site is properly cleaned up.

"Emerson takes environmental issues very seriously, and we have been working diligently with the state of New York concerning environmental issues that have been raised at the Emerson Power Transmission site in
Ithaca," said Emerson spokesman Dave Baldridge.

ITHACA -- A local company that tracks toxic sites across New York is calling for better clean-up practices around a century-old factory in the Town of Ithaca.

Walter Hang, president of Toxics Targeting, believes that efforts to remediate toxic solvent contamination around Emerson Power Transmission's facility on Danby Road over the past decade have been deficient. It
sits uphill from residential neighborhoods around West Spencer Street.

Click here to download the "Activist ties lead to Cayuga Lake" Ithaca Journal article in PDF format

Although there are health risks with visiting a lead-contaminated area of Fall Creek gorge near Ithaca Falls, most people visiting the site probably have not had enough exposure to the toxic element to cause problems, a state health department official said Friday.

Members of an Ithaca company and a citizens' group are calling for the immediate cleanup of the popular swimming, hiking and fishing area. As early as 1995, the state Department of Environmental Conservation has documented high levels of lead and visible lead shot there stemming from the defunct Ithaca Gun factory nearby.

ITHACA -- An Ithaca company and a citizen's group are calling for the immediate cleanup of a lead-contaminated site on land the City of Ithaca plans to turn into a park.

The city purchased the more than 10-acre piece of Fall Creek gorge, that includes Ithaca Falls, from Cornell University in March for $1. Now, it's faced with the cleanup of the site between Stewart Avenue and Lake Street, where the state Department of Environmental Conservation has documented high levels of lead contamination from the Ithaca Gun Co.'s former factor in 1995.