New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation says cleanup of the land around the former Geneva Foundry in that city will begin this summer.
Homes and businesses around the abandoned foundry site are contaminated with lead and other toxic metals given off by the furnaces over the hundred years it ran in Geneva. The residential properties include a licensed daycare facility.
Each property will need an individual cleanup plan. The DEC says this is strictly voluntary. Participation in the cleanup is only with the written permission from the property owner. They’re sending letters to about 30 owners who are closest to the foundry site at 32 Jackson Street and presumably have the worst pollution. Typically, the cleanup will involve digging out about the top two feet of soil and carting it away to a secure landfill.