Amsterdam mill site cleanup starts
Contents of large drums to be hauled offBy KERRY McAVOY / The Leader-Herald
AMSTERDAM - The cleanup and demolition of former Rural Hosier Mill at 188 Pioneer St. has begun.
The more than 135-year-old mill is adjacent to the Chuctanunda Creek and sits on more than an acre of land. Officials have said the structure is unsafe after years of neglect. Several roofs have collapsed, and there are many 55-gallon drums scattered about the building.
Engineer Larry Rogers with Delaware Engineering said APT Environmental Inc of Milton, Vt. was on site Wednesday and has been cleaning up the more than 80 55-gallon drums outside and inside the building. Recently, the drums were found to contain solvents, oils and inks, among other substances. This was the first time the town or engineers have known what was inside the drums.
"And there are just as many 1- and 5-gallon pails full of inks and adhesives," Rogers said.
The drums will be taken to a facility in New Jersey to be incinerated. Rogers said there is more than 10,000 gallons of petroleum on site in tanks. This oil can be recycled into fuel and could be sold by the town at 30 cents per gallon.
APT won the cleanup contract with an $18,500 bid. Other contractors had bid as high as $50,000 for the work.
The town also approved the hiring of Ritter & Parater Contractors of Utica to do the demolition of the building for $159,000. The company will begin the project once all the drums and other debris are removed from the site.
The debris will be taken as part of the county program that subsidizes the cost of removing debris from municipal demolition projects.
Town Supervisor Tom DiMezza said Wednesday he is going to ask the county to help to pay for the cost of tearing down the mill itself. The town would be the first municipality to use the county demolition fund, which was created in July.
"We're finally going to get this accomplished," DiMezza said.
Once the mill is gone, the land will be redeveloped into a public park.
Keith Kazala, who lives on Pioneer Street, said he was pleased the mill was going to come down. He said he has been waiting for 15 years to see the mill demolished.
"Maybe someday they could make a nice little park there," Kazala said.
He also praised the work of the Town Board and Delaware Engineering for getting the mill demolition under way.
The town received a more than $200,000 grant in August 2007 from the state Department of Environmental Conservation to investigate possible contamination at the site. The testing of soil and groundwater for contamination began this August, and testing of the 55- gallon drums began in September, and bids were sent out last month for the site demolition.
Kerry McAvoy covers Montgomery County. She can be reached by e-mail at montco@leaderherald.com
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ipaymyway
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11-20-08 2:10 PM
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hey, i got a great idea, why dont they put the welfare to work in the cleaning up process.(the ones that are able to work of course). look at the money they could save in labor. this could start a new trend. people could earn their welfare and local towns and cities could save money from hiring out the jobs. man do i live in a dream world or what? hahahahah
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