Big Flats citizen coalition says former fertilizer plant threatens water, demands cleanup

A recently-formed group of citizens known as Big Flats Defenders is asking Gov. Kathy Hochul to put high priority on cleanup of a former fertilizer plant they say is threatening water supplies in the town.

The location in question is a former Agway fertilizer facility at 83 Hammond St. in the hamlet of Big Flats, according to the group, a coalition of property owners, business operators and residents.

The group, which is working in conjunction with Ithaca-based environmental research firm Toxics Targeting, sent a letter to Hochul requesting the former Agway site be comprehensively investigated and remediated to restore the site to "pre-disposal conditions, to the extent feasible…" as mandated by state regulatory requirements.

The letter referred to documents from the state Department of Environmental Conservation and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency indicating nitrite fertilizer and the chlorinated pesticide Dieldrin were reportedly dumped for decades at the factory site into an on-site "lagoon" and "over the bank."

Those legacy contamination concerns were never cleaned up, the letter stated.

"Even though nitrate and Dieldrin contamination at the factory site reportedly exceeded state groundwater cleanup requirements, no comprehensive remediation of the site has ever been undertaken to safeguard the health of local residents and the source of Big Flats' drinking water supply," Big Flats Defenders coordinator Shannon Keach said in a news release.

"The factory site has reportedly caused pollution problems for more than 65 years and must be completely cleaned up without any further delay," Keach said.

There is also a proposed housing project planned for that site, and the group wrote to Town of Big Flats officials asking them to withhold all regulatory approvals for that project until documented contamination concerns have been comprehensively investigated and remediated.

"It would be shockingly irresponsible for Big Flats authorities to permit redevelopment of the factory site before all its known contamination concerns are completely cleaned up," said John Little, a Big Flats Defenders member and local homeowner.

"It is imperative that this legacy dumping site must be remediated before the property is permitted to be redeveloped or its known contamination problems will continue to imperil our community's health for decades to come," Little said.

Town officials say most of the approvals for the proposed housing project are already in place.

In January, the town was awarded over $1.3 million through Empire State Development to support the Soaring Heights Landing Family Housing project, which promises to "transform the abandoned Agway packing facility and additional buildings on the property through demolition and environmental cleanup."

"Once revitalized, the site will feature affordable family housing units which will be owned and operated by a local non-profit housing agency. The addition of a sewer main extension will efficiently serve the new housing, ensuring modern infrastructure supports the community's growth," states the project description.

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The 5.8-acre site was sold by Agway in 2002 and the current listed owner is John Reed of Corning, according to the Chemung County Real Property Tax Service.

Drinking water contamination associated with nitrate fertilizer in well water was originally documented circa 1959 in residential wells near the facility, the letter to Gov. Hochul indicated.

DEC assessed the site but has never remediated it, the group claimed.

"Town authorities and Gov. Hochul must require all pollution on and around the factory site to be totally cleaned up before the property is permitted to be redeveloped," said Toxics Targeting President Walter Hang. "That is why the local residents and I wrote to the governor and Big Flats officials."

DEC has not yet responded to a request for comment.