The facility is located at 30 Kellogg Road, City of Cortland, Cortland County, New York. The property is approximately 50 acres in size and contained a large main production building, interconnected with several smaller production buildings, an office building and several support buildings, including a flammable storage building and a hazardous waste storage garage (buildings one through five). The total size of the facility buildings was estimated at 367,000 ft before buildings one and two were razed in 2008.
The Buckbee-Mears facility was purchased by International Electron Devices (IED) on October 26, 2004. IED operated the facility until May, 2005, when they closed due to a lack of funding. A large number of the bulk chemicals used in production and the chemical wastes from past operations were abandoned on Site. These materials included: strong acids and caustics in large tanks, drums, process piping and numerous small containers throughout the facility. Approximately seven cylinders of chlorine gas were also abandoned on Site.
During the summer of 2006, the Cortland Police Department responded to a report of vandalism and became concerned when they discovered the large amount of chemicals which had been abandoned at the Site. The Cortland Police subsequently notified the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) of their findings. On July 27, 2006, representatives from the NYSDEC, the Cortland Police and Fire Departments and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducted a Site visit. The visit confirmed the presence of numerous hazardous substances in drums, tanks and cylinders throughout the facility. The potential for a chemical release was deemed serious because the facility was idle with no security and all utilities had been terminated. On August 1, 2006, the NYSDEC formally requested the EPA to conduct a removal action under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) at this Site.
Negotiations with the PRP to perform the required clean up actions resulted in EPA issuing an Administrative Order on September 29, 2006. The PRP initially complied with the Order, but ceased correspondence with EPA in early November, 2006. Following several acts of vandalism at the facility, EPA initiated a Removal Action on January 10, 2007.
Segregation, sizing, and off-site disposal of C&D debris was completed during the week of May11, 2009. All access points into Building 5 were secured. A fence contractor completed installation and repairs of new and existing fencing. A new eight-foot chain link fence was erected around concrete slabs of the former buildings 1 & 2. A surface sealant/encapsulant was applied to these areas as well. During the week of April 13, 2009, a T&D coordinator was on-site to oversee consolidation/solidification of solid wastes, labpack flammables/aerosols and prepare all containers for off-site shipments. In all, one shipment of 41 drums containing various hazardous waste and two loads of solidified waste material was shipped off-site. The AST continued to monitor work zone safety thru the week of May 11, 2009.
The ERRS contractor demobilized the Site on May 27, 2009. EPA’s Contractor’s terminated its security subcontractor and the Cortland City Police Department increased patrols in the area. The State Bank of India re-established 24/7 manned security to protect the remaining assets.
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