New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation met Tuesday night with families who live around a long abandoned iron foundry in the City of Geneva.
The DEC recently notified those people that their property could be contaminated with high levels of lead and arsenic from the foundry, which operated on Jackson Street from the 1880s to the 1980s. The buildings were torn down 11 years ago.
Residents have been asking why they’re just finding out about this now. DEC officials said technology they got last year gave them the ability to screen large areas for soil contamination and get quick results.
The state says they’re planning to dig out and remove contaminated soil from the foundry site at a cost of $250,000. The City of Geneva will foot the bill. Removing the soil from some 200 residential properties will cost about $16 million. DEC is hoping the State Superfund will pay for it.