U.S. Water News Online
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Honeywell International says it has removed the largest source of mercury leaking into Onondaga Lake.
John McAuliffe, Honeywell's Syracuse-area program coordinator, called the accomplishment a milestone.
"We need to get these former (Allied Chemical) properties cleaned up before we start remediation of the lake bottom," McAuliffe said during a tour of the former LCP Chemicals property in Geddes.
Clean up of the 30-acre site has taken two years and cost $16 million, he said.
The chemical plant, at its peak, once dumped 20 pounds of mercury per day into the lake. Honeywell removed more than 7 tons of mercury that remained in the ground.
The LCP Chemicals plant is part of the legacy of the former Allied Chemical complex. Allied made chlorine at the plant for almost 40 years before selling it to LCP Chemicals in 1979. LCP operated the plant until June 1988, when the company was forced to close the factory under state pressure because of repeated chlorine gas leaks. Its owners declared bankruptcy in 1992.
Honeywell merged with AlliedSignal Inc. in 1999 and agreed to clean up pollution left behind by the former Allied Chemical complex on the lake's western shore. Allied was Onondaga Lake's largest industrial polluter.
To make sure no more toxic chemicals leave the site, Honeywell will operate an onsite groundwater collection system. A five-story underground barrier wall will prevent contaminated water from leaving the property.
Clean up of the site is just one part of a larger remediation project. Honeywell and the state continue to negotiate over the extent of that remediation.
The state has proposed Honeywell spend $451 million to dredge 2.65 million yards of contaminated sediment from the lake and cover 579 acres of the lake bottom with a cap of sand, gravel and other material. The cleanup would take seven years. Honeywell has proposed a $237 million, 3-year plan to dredge 508,000 cubic yards and cap about 350 acres.
Onondaga Lake was once a sacred Indian waterway but has been turned into a toxic stew from a century of municipal and industrial pollution.
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