A story posted on the TimesLedger website describes NY State Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan’s appeal to the state to better inform local communities about potentially toxic neighborhood sites. Her concern appears to stem from recent discovery of contamination found to be migrating from under the Swingline Stapler building in Queens.
It reminds us that we have yet to post the original news of the migration, which broke in December:
State Department of Environmental Conservation officials are conducting tests at eight to 12 buildings within a one-block radius of the former stapler factory, which closed in 1999 and housed the Museum of Modern Art while its Manhattan location was being renovated from 2002 to 2004.The groundwater and soil beneath the building is tainted with the common industrial pollutant and carcinogen trichloroethylene, known as TCE, according to DEC regional citizen-participation specialist Arturo Garcia-Costas.
In October, the DEC found that the degreasing solvent – which has also been linked to nerve damage and birth defects – may have spread, so a new round of tests began immediately.
[...]
ACCO, the company that operated the Swingline factory from 1952 to 1997, entered into the state’s voluntary cleanup program in October 2000 after an unlined pit used to dump chemical waste was discovered during federal closing procedures.
In 2004 the DEC investigated the actual footprint of the factory, but not until this year did it complete tests in the areas around Swingline.
Read the full story from December here. We’ll try to keep you posted as we learn more.
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