We are pleased to announce that the clean-up of the southernmost fourteen acres of the waterfront will commence next week. After several decades of discussion, we will finally begin the long process of cleaning the waterfront of pollution and preparing it for eventual reuse.
The southern third of the waterfront, owned by Exxon, Chevron and Uhlich, has a considerably lower level of contamination than the northern portion, which is owned by BP Arco. Contaminants are mostly a by-product of the fuels and paint dyes that were stored or manufactured at the site. It should take about three years to decontaminate this portion of the waterfront. (Work on the northern portion will not start for a couple of years as we work through remediation design with the DEC and BP, and will take longer.)
The first step involves placing air monitoring equipment at two locations this week, one at the site and one at Riverview Park on Warburton Avenue, to develop baseline statistics before the clean-up begins.
Next Monday, crews will mobilize on the Exxon portion of the site, which borders the river. Some vegetation over polluted areas will be removed, and then Exxon’s contractors will jackhammer and remove concrete pads in place at the site so the DEC can sample the ground beneath. About 35 truckloads of polluted soil will be removed from the site. The trucks will only run on weekdays and not during the school rush hours. This entire process should take less than a month. It will be monitored by the village and independent engineers.
Once Exxon has completed this first phase of remediation, Chevron will then clean their portion of the site. (We don’t yet have a time line for that work but will share it with you when we do.) Next year, Exxon will begin “bioremediation” of the remaining pollution using bacteria native to the soil, prodded to bloom in great quantity, to consume the remaining volatile chemicals over a two-three year period.
We are grateful to the NY Department of Environmental Conservation for its efforts on the waterfront, our fire department for its supervision, our municipal employees for their work all through the process, my colleague Trustee Quinlan who has been instrumental in prodding forth activity, and, not least, Exxon and Chevron for living up to their obligations and carrying through on the clean up.
This is, indeed, a historic moment for Hastings: we can begin to visualize a waterfront one day open to all residents.
Peter Swiderski is the mayor of the Village of Hastings-on-Hudson
