EPA freeze could gum up Holley Superfund site, other projects
A tiny local development corporation formed back in 2015 to help get eight vacant houses near a Superfund site in Holley, Orleans County back on the tax rolls is concerned that an edict from the Trump administration that freezes all grants and contracts by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, could create additional delays for their effort.
At issue are eight houses left vacant since January 2002, when a number of village residents fled an accidental chemical release at the former Diaz Chemical Corp. on Jackson Street. That spill set off a chain reaction that led within two years to the company's bankruptcy and the Diaz facility being named by EPA to the list of the nation's worst toxic waste sites. Holley is located about 25 miles west of Rochester.
►Holley homes near chemical spill getting new life
While EPA has always said the homes are safe, residents refused to return to them, leading the agency in 2005 to spend $1.3 million buying the houses and relocating the residents. EPA has since performed basic maintenance, kept the grass cut and kept the heat and power on so the pipes wouldn't freeze.
The agency signed a memorandum of understanding back in September enabling transfer to the Holley Development Corp.
Dan Schiavone, that group's president, said transfer of the properties had been imminent. His group intends to put the houses back on the market as soon as possible.
"If this does impede our progress, we will be very disappointed," he said.
Also unclear after the Trump administration's action is the status of the planned $14.5 million long-term cleanup plan for the site. That plan entails using electrodes to heat the ground in six contaminated areas. Steam driven out of the soil would carry out the contaminants and the resulting vapor would be collected and cleaned.
U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, D-New York, on Thursday demanded the agency confirm that the freeze would not stall or reverse the EPA's long-awaited transfer of eight houses in Holley over to the Village of Holley Development Corporation.
"It’s unconscionable that at the 11th hour, this new, short-sighted EPA policy could jeopardize years of work by the Village of Holley to acquire the 'Diaz 8' vacant homes from the EPA," Schumer said in written statements. "A promise is a promise and the signed Memorandum of Agreement says the EPA must- and without any delay fulfill its obligation to the Village of Holley and complete this critical transfer."
Other projects
In terms of other projects in New York, state officials have had limited comment on the freeze and rumored EPA reductions.
"New York is closely monitoring all actions by the new administration and impacts on funding for vital New York programs. We will continue to work with the federal government and our partners on every level to ensure that our environment and public health are protected,” said a joint statement provided by the departments of health and environmental conservation.
It was not clear what EPA grants or contracts the two state agencies hold.
Locally, neither the University of Rochester nor Rochester Institute of Technology receive substantial amounts of grant money from the federal agency, spokespersons at the two universities reported this week.
One EPA funding stream that would be of concern in upstate New York is the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, an Obama-administration program that has provided $650 million since 2010 for research, remediation and improvements on and near the five Great Lakes. Most of the 850 grants have gone to state agencies, municipalities, universities and non-profit groups.
About 120 GLRI projects valued at $124 million remain active, according to the latest GLRI data.
Of that total, nine projects valued at nearly $8 million are focused on New York.
Monroe County has a small grant to help with the study of pollutants in the lower Genesee River and nearby waters of Lake Ontario, and Ducks Unlimited is just concluding $500,000 worth of invasive species control work at Braddock Bay.
One of the largest grants in New York, $1.3 million, was given to Clarkson University in St. Lawrence County to pay for continued development of new techniques to monitor toxic-chemical contamination of Great Lakes fish. The grant is to run through 2020.
Michael Griffin, a spokesman for the university, said earlier this week that “we really don’t have any additional information at this point. We really don’t know what the freeze means.”
MCDERMOT@Gannett.com