1127-1129-Irving-Avenue

Earlier today we posted a video about the dire state of the former Wolff-Alport Chemical Company site at 1127-1129 Irving Avenue in Ridgewood. Soon after, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that they are adding the site to the federal Superfund list of hazardous waste sites. The Wolff-Alport Chemical Company operated from 1920 until 1954 and sold thorium to the government. Recent studies by the EPA found waste material and radioactivity throughout the property, beneath adjacent public sidewalks and streets and in nearby sewers above normal levels. 1127-1129 Irving Avenue is comprised of six parcels of land with five buildings that house an auto body shop, an ice making facility, a construction company and a deli.

The EPA has already spent about $2,000,000 on the site; it is unclear how much the actual Superfund process will cost. According to the press release, “The EPA searches for parties legally responsible for the contamination at sites that are placed on the Superfund list and it seeks to hold those parties accountable for the costs of investigations and cleanups. EPA is evaluating potentially responsible parties regarding the site.”

This is the city’s third Superfund site after Newtown Creek and the Gowanus Canal.

EPA Adds Radiation Site in Ridgewood Queens, New York to the Superfund List [EPA.gov]
All Wolff-Alport Chemical Company coverage [Q’Stoner]


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