Site of Schenectady casino contaminated with decades of petroleum, degreasing agents Developer Galesi estimates $10 million cleanup costs for gambling site By Lauren Stanforth Published 8:13 pm, Saturday, April 18, 2015
Artist renderings of a casino resort proposed for the banks of the Mohawk River depict glimmering, glass-enclosed buildings and sprawling green lawns set against imaginary crystal-blue waters that envelop the gambling destination.
But the drawings and most of the other documents presented to the state Gaming Facility Location Board, which recommended the award of a coveted casino license to the site late last year, gave little indication of the pollution lurking in the ground. The 57 acres, with a manufacturing history that dates to the mid-1800s, is undergoing a multimillion-dollar cleanup to remove harmful substances that include arsenic, mercury and petroleum byproducts.
The pollution is so severe that the state has required a deed restriction ensuring that no one uses the property's groundwater, which is polluted with petroleum, chlorinated solvents and other degreasing agents. The state Department of Environmental Conservation also has found there is a potential for vapors from contaminated soil and groundwater to contaminate indoor air quality in any buildings placed on the site, records show.
The toxic materials seeped into the ground at the site over a period of decades, and largely at a time when there were fewer regulations governing industry waste-handling.
In 1901, American Locomotive Works merged with other companies to become one of the nation's leading train manufacturers. Its workers forged and welded the pieces needed to build steam engines before the company switched to manufacturing diesel-electric train parts beginning in 1946. It also produced tanks and boilers under contracts with the U.S. military during World War II. When ALCO went out of business in 1969, General Electric Co. actively used the site until 1985, leaving the last of its leased buildings in 2002. GE built steam-turbine engines there in addition to other work.
"It's our understanding that the site has been the subject of multiple investigations over the years and there are no GE-related environmental issues," said GE spokeswoman Chris Horne.
The DEC began ordering the digging of monitoring wells on the ALCO site in the early 1990s after finding petroleum floating near the Mohawk's banks during an investigation of a spill at nearby Coyne Textile Services. As a result, hundreds of gallons of an oil-like substance were removed from the groundwater wells — in some cases the contamination being bailed out by hand, according to a review of hundreds of pages of government documents cataloguing the site's history.
"There's a reason no one did anything (with the property) since 1969; no one could figure out how to do it, including us, initially," said David Buicko, chief operating officer for the casino's developer, Rotterdam-based Galesi Group. "We hope we figured out the right template."
Such contamination is common at industrial sites and can be remediated, said Preston Gilbert, former operations director of the State University of New York Center for Brownfield Studies in Syracuse. For instance, pump and filtration systems can be used if indoor air tests are positive for what are called volatile organic compounds, which at high levels can be harmful to humans.
But the state location board's February decision to approve a casino for the site made no mention of such details, even though the information was part of an engineer's report submitted with the application. The board noted the property's status is a benefit, saying "a deteriorated site in an urban center could become productive and a greenfield site will not be developed elsewhere."
Galesi is planning to sink $480 million into the project that includes a casino, boat harbor, two hotels, apartments, retail space and condominiums.
The site's history as a manufacturing hub dates to 1849 — a location largely chosen because the Erie Canal once ran past the property on what is now Erie Boulevard. In the following eight decades, the acreage was pieced together from 76 different parcels as American Locomotive grew into an industrial powerhouse. The East Front Street neighborhood was born, populated by ALCO workers. And Schenectady's "The City That Hauls and Lights The World" catch phrase came about partly from ALCO's success. When rail passenger travel and shipping dwindled, ALCO went out of business.
In 1971, a group of Schenectady County businessmen bought the property and became its landlord. With few businesses remaining on-site, Galesi bought the property for $500,000 in 2010 and began demolishing most of the 800,000 square feet of buildings. The structures at one time were used for blacksmithing, shot blasting (metal polishing or cleaning), welding and, at one time, even a floor used as a makeshift hospital with X-ray machines.
After the DEC got involved in the property, investigators learned a buried 2,700-gallon concrete tank had been removed — but not before it appeared to have leaked chlorinated solvents into the ground. More than 550 gallons of an oil and water mixture were also siphoned from two wells, one of the many that were drilled to monitor groundwater contamination.
As part of the Brownfield Cleanup Program, the DEC recently approved a remediation plan that calls for 2 feet of new dirt to be placed on any area not covered by a building or parking lot. Hot spots that contain arsenic, lead and mercury will be excavated and removed.
The cleanup also calls for a chemical oxidant to be injected into the ground to help dissipate the chlorinated-solvent plume that stretches from Erie Boulevard to the Mohawk River in the eastern portion of the site. A plume is created when a liquid chemical flows through another liquid, in this case groundwater.
Much of the plume is also located in the area that Galesi wants to dredge to create a harbor for luxury boats.
Small underground tunnels that were found after the buildings were demolished must also be backfilled.
An engineer's letter submitted as part of the casino application suggested that much of the site might be restricted from having residential housing because of concerns about underground contaminants that, in gas form, make their way up through the soil.
Galesi's site plan calls for at least a portion of a proposed 191-unit apartment complex, as well as the casino, to be located in that area. While the DEC recognizes that "the potential exists for the inhalation of site contaminants due to soil vapor intrusion for any future on-site development," it ruled that residential development can happen anywhere as long as there is indoor air monitoring, according to documents.
Buicko, in an email response to the Times Union, said requiring testing for indoor air quality doesn't mean there is an actual problem. "Vapor mitigation measures are well established and are in place at buildings throughout the state and country," Buicko said. Galesi also developed the nearby Golub headquarters, which was once an ALCO site.
In rejecting other casino applications, the locating board cited environmental concerns for the proposed Capital View Casino in East Greenbush and the Howe Caverns plan in Schoharie County. For Capital View, the board noted the casino would take up green space. And for Howe Caverns, the nearby presence of an Eastern small-footed bat habitat was listed as a concern.
A spokesman for the casino location board said it was a volunteer panel that relied on the direction of the DEC, which must sign off before the state Gaming Commission officially grants the license. There is no timeline yet on when that will happen, but Galesi said the casino will be built within two years of receiving the license.
Meanwhile, remediation is already under way. Galesi is receiving millions of dollars in tax breaks to do the clean up, which the DEC estimated would cost $5.8 million. But Galesi said it has cost more than $10 million thus far.
Gilbert, the state brownfield expert, said in recent years New York has relaxed the stringent requirements that often stopped developers from building on contaminated sites. Examples include the former Carousel Mall — now Destiny USA — in Syracuse and Riverlink Park in Amsterdam, he said. "You have to accept the fact that the DEC, even in this new era, is still very cautious, but cautious in a good way," Gilbert said. "To a layperson what would look really scary really isn't that scary."
The 13 casino operators not recommended for a license to build a commercial casino in the state were reimbursed a portion of the fees they incurred during the application process. The state Gaming Commission returned a total of $7.8 million to the 13 applicants, who each paid a $1 million application fee to enter the race for one of up to four full-scale casinos in upstate New York. Backers of a casino at Howe Caverns ...
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
An engineer's letter submitted as part of the casino application suggested that much of the site might be restricted from having residential housing because of concerns about underground contaminants that, in gas form, make their way up through the soil.
...
Examine your conscience.
Would YOU take ANY chances with YOUR life and the lives of your loving spouse and children, and buy or rent a residence there?
Optimists close their eyes and pretend problems are non existent. Better to have open eyes, see the truths, acknowledge the negatives, and speak up for the people rather than the politicos and their rich cronies.
... Galesi's site plan calls for at least a portion of a proposed 191-unit apartment complex, as well as the casino, to be located in that area. While the DEC recognizes that "the potential exists for the inhalation of site contaminants due to soil vapor intrusion for any future on-site development," it ruled that residential development can happen anywhere as long as there is indoor air monitoring, according to documents.
...
Naturally a guy connected to this city/co/plex dems who is getting so filthy richER from the theft from the ctiy homeowners is goinmg to say ANYTHING to claim it's safe to live there.
How frequently will air quality be checked? Every day? Once a week? Once every 10 years?
Will renters be allowed OUT of their lease before it is over IF a test is done and something is found?
If a test is done and it has been 6 months since the previous test, WHO will pay WHEN the tenant has gotten sick during the previous 6 months between testing?
Will Galesi pay off someone's mortgage in full AND give them money for a downpayment on a house out of this county when the test show bad air or other problems?
Optimists close their eyes and pretend problems are non existent. Better to have open eyes, see the truths, acknowledge the negatives, and speak up for the people rather than the politicos and their rich cronies.
A SNEAK PEAK AT THE FUTURE OF THE CITY RESULTING FROM THE TAXPAYER FUNDED CASINO:
Optimists close their eyes and pretend problems are non existent. Better to have open eyes, see the truths, acknowledge the negatives, and speak up for the people rather than the politicos and their rich cronies.
Would YOU take ANY chances with YOUR life and the lives of your loving spouse and children, and buy or rent a residence there?
Isn't a hotel a temporary residence?
I guess a weekend of toxic fumes won't kill you, but long term might?
I know exactly what they are talking about with the solvents and cleaning chemicals. We discussed this topic back in December on facebook and I described what I saw working at GE. They used pallets and pallets of solvents at a time in 55 gal drums of Methyl Ethyl Ketone(MEK) Touluene, trichloroethylene, acetone, and dozens of other types of solvents. Each building that I worked in had a section where they kept all the solvents and cleaners, keeping one barrel of each laying on their side with a spigot installed so anyone could come by with a safety pail and grab what they need. Many6 employees had grease, tars, paints, varnishes resins or other crap all over themselves at the end of the day and many would dip their entire arms into vats of these solvents, because your hands got clean instantly. Employees would dip rags into the solvent buckets and clean machinery parts, floors, etc slopping the stuff everywhere. They used solvents as thinners for the wire insulation enamels and varnishes. GE at the main plant dumped these chemical drums and any other waste products out back of building 85 all the way to the Poenta Kill. As a kid we used to go all over down on the flats and there were barrels sticking out of the ground everywhere. They dumped tons and tons of scrap metals, wiring, wooden forms used to cast parts in the foundries, etc. back in the 70s people were getting arrested for going to the GE landfill and stealing things to sell at Predals.
As the laws changed and environmental damage started being addressed, GE knocked down more than half of their buildings and covered most of them with asphalt. This served 3 purposes, cheaper labor elsewhere, to lower their taxes, and hopefully keep from having to clean up all the lands and their landfills. If GE left Schenectady altogether the cleanup would likely cost billions. So they keep some token employees here, hopefully putting off cleaning up the toxic areas into the far future.
These same chemicals were sold to the public at Stark Oil Company across from the GE main gate. Even after taking out 50 million pounds of soil, they still fenced the property and decalared it forever unusable. Here is a the fenced in area from Google maps:
Hell....who feels safe driving/living by that area NOW?? How does this effect The Light House? Jumpin Jacks...now????
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
The site of a Schenectady casino has serious pollution problems.
THE STAKES:
How will this affect the project's potential success, not to mention public health?
There's a reason casinos make money, or at least used to: The odds are in the house's favor. But what if they're not?
That's a scenario that the state Gaming Commission and the city of Schenectady should ponder before they give any more go-aheads to the Rivers Casino and Resort at Mohawk Harbor. This nearly half-billion-dollar project, it turns out, is slated to be built on a seriously polluted site.
This isn't just about whether the Galesi Group and its partners lose money on a risky venture. It's about whether this multifaceted project brings its promised public benefits or becomes a public liability, a fate that has befallen casinos, states and communities elsewhere even without this site's challenges.
The problem, as the Times Union's Lauren Stanforth detailed in an article on the Erie Boulevard site Sunday, is the pollution that has accumulated over more than 165 years of industrial use. There are hot spots of arsenic, lead and mercury, metals associated with an array of health concerns, particularly in children. There are also chlorinated solvents, which are harmful to humans and aquatic organisms. A plume of these chemicals has spread underground, making groundwater unusable and lying where a harbor and marina are planned.
The Galesi Group says it is spending more than $10 million to clean the site under the eyes of the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Major accumulations of heavy metals will be removed, 2 feet of soil added, and the plume treated to help dissipate it.
Still, the DEC expects vapors will be a long-term concern, particularly in enclosed spaces. Galesi says the issue can be dealt with through air monitoring and vapor controls.
But one has to wonder how this history of contamination will affect the marketability of the 191 apartments and the hotel planned for the site, and the enthusiasm of the thousands of potential gamblers the casino would need to draw. Portions of the site, an engineer warned, may be unusable for residential housing.
Although the problem was known, there was no mention of it when the gaming commission's locating board last year recommended the Schenectady project for one of the coveted new casino licenses. The commission won't issue the license until and unless the DEC signs off on the site.
DEC's blessing, if and when it happens, must carry strong and detailed assurances that the site is safe. Meanwhile, the only thing that should be happening on the property is a cleanup. The gaming commission and any other involved agencies shouldn't have to work under the pressure they would inevitably face if millions more dollars were already poured into construction, and if actual jobs, not just potential ones were on the line.
Yes, this is about the financial health of a project that, in today's softening casino market, is already questionable. But it's also about public health. With that, New York had better not gamble.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
You have to wonder how the realtors will broach this polutionflooding issue to potential buyers of the condos there when they ask questions about these issues. Just like the flooding issue in the nearby Stockade. How do realtors respond to potential buyers of Stockade homes when the flooding issue/flood ins. costs are brought up. Hard to imagine people wanting to dine/live at this site,while looking out their windows, and off in the distance gauges/monitors can be viewed and are tracking potential health hazards. Along with the RPI atomic bldg. and eyesore of a steel company. No doubt a sweetheart deal will be forthcoming for a relocation of the steel co. The owner of the steel co. has already stated the forthcoming roundabout will seriously impede his trucks navigation into/out of the steel co. plant. Possibly one reason for the roundabout, to further the steel companys exit from the site.
Of course, the McThief's taxpayers paid real estate agent, the TAX DEADBEAT Mary D'Alessandro Gilmore will be sure to brag that these places are selling like hotcakes and the real estate industry can't keep up. She'll be bragging that they have hundreds of condos/townhouses "under contract" but, as usual will NEVER admit that none of the contracts went through.
Her taxpayer paid metroplex hubby Frankie will probably do some taxpayer funded architect work there.
This pair of tax deadbeats I'll bet are soon to flee the city, they know what will happen to the tax BILLS of homeonwers in the city in a few years. They might like living in a historic neighborhood as they are in the stockade, they could go to maybe Round Lake if not Saratoga specifically. After all, they can't afford the taxes now, they can go to where the taxes are much lower.
Now the biggest question: Will David Buicko move into one of these condos or townhouses????? NOT A CHANCE, 1,000% GUARANTEED. He will have NOTHING to do with paying taxes IN the city, nor putting his life and that of his family in jeopardy--whether from cancer nor from being shot or stabbed.
The biggest (in more ways than one) cheerleader is TOTALLY SILENT.
Optimists close their eyes and pretend problems are non existent. Better to have open eyes, see the truths, acknowledge the negatives, and speak up for the people rather than the politicos and their rich cronies.
No doubt a sweetheart deal will be forthcoming for a relocation of the steel co. The owner of the steel co. has already stated the forthcoming roundabout will seriously impede his trucks navigation into/out of the steel co. plant. Possibly one reason for the roundabout, to further the steel companys exit from the site.
the owner of the steel company is 'CONNECTED'. don't make him a victim....cause he ain't.
this aside.......folks need to start pushing hard about the pollution and flooding issues!! GET THE WORD OUT NOW!!!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Modern day Love Canal. (Which, by the way, was the first thing I ever did an Internet search for. I was taking a night class on city planning and was doing a report on planning gone wrong. I did not get pictures of an abandoned housing development Interwebs lesson number 1 was quick)
Logged
Interwebs lesson number 1 was quick)
