GCL Tie and Treating Inc. is a 60-acre former wood treatment and sawmill facility in the Village of Sidney, Delaware County, New York. It has been on the National Priorities List since May 1994. Wood-preserving operations dating to the 1940s left the site heavily contaminated, and a 1986 pressure tank failure released roughly 30,000 gallons of creosote into the ground.
EPA has identified 67 contaminants across groundwater, soil, surface water, sediment, and free-phase liquid that does not mix with water, called non-aqueous phase liquid or NAPL. Contaminants include volatile organic compounds such as benzene, trichloroethene, and toluene; metals including arsenic, chromium, nickel, and zinc; and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons such as benzo[a]pyrene and chrysene. Creosote was also detected as free-phase NAPL. EPA determined these substances pose unacceptable risk to human health and the environment.
Cleanup has taken place in stages. Starting in 1991, EPA removed about 20,000 gallons of creosote wastes and sludges. From 1998 to 2000, crews excavated and treated 80,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil using low temperature thermal desorption, with site restoration finished by June 2000. A groundwater pump and treatment system ran from 2005 to 2016. Additional soil and groundwater work on nearby non-GCL property ran from 2002 to 2004. The site has been divided into three operable units covering site-wide contamination, the GCL property and its groundwater, and the NAPL investigation. Physical construction is complete across the site, but cleanup goals have not all been met, and required land-use controls are still being put in place.
The most pressing remaining issue is dense NAPL contamination persisting in groundwater beneath the site. EPA issued a Record of Decision in September 2020 selecting an interim remedy that includes in-ground thermal treatment, monitored natural attenuation, multi-phase extraction, and hydraulic control to contain contamination. Remedial design is underway, with completion estimated between September and November 2028. The next five-year review is estimated for July through September 2028. Human exposure is currently under control, and area residents receive drinking water from public supply wells that are routinely tested. Fencing restricts access to the site.
Community members can get updates through EPA's five-year reviews, the most recent of which was completed in July 2023. Documents are available at the Sidney Memorial Library on Main Street in Sidney, New York, and at EPA's New York office at 290 Broadway, 18th floor. The EPA's Community Involvement Coordinator and Remedial Project Managers handle public questions.
