Site History: This Site includes the General Motors Central
Foundry Division, listed on the National Priorities List in 1984, as well as
the Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA West) and Reynolds Metals Company (ALCOA
East) facilities. The ALCOA West facility has produced aluminum from alumina
using the pre-baked anode method since 1903. The Reynolds Metals Company was
constructed in 1958 to produce aluminum from alumina using the soderberg
process. General Motors Central Foundry manufactured aluminum cylinder heads at
this plant beginning in 1959. Starting in the late 1950s polychlorinated
biphenyls (PCBs) were used in hydraulic fluid and electrical equipment at both
plants.
Location: Massena, New York.
Trustees:
Case status: The Trustees are conducting a cooperative natural
resource damage assessment with Alcoa and GM to address injury to ecological,
recreational fishing, and cultural services. Potential
restoration project ideas are currently being solicited from the public
.
Overview: The Alcoa West (Grasse River plant), Alcoa East
(former Reynolds Metals Company), and General Motors Foundry are located in
Massena, New York. PCBs as well as metals (e.g., aluminum, fluoride, cyanide),
polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and dioxins and furans have been released
into the surrounding environment including the Grasse River, the Raquette
River, the St. Lawrence River, and Turtle Cove/Turtle Creek. Land- and
river-based remediation has addressed some but not all of the source
conditions. Records of Decision have been issued for the St. Lawrence River at
GM and Reynolds, Turtle Cove, and the Raquette River. A remedy for the Grasse
River has not yet been selected and supplemental remediation is pending for the
Reynolds St. Lawrence remediation area.
The Trustees formed the St. Lawrence Environmental Trustee Council
(SLETC) in 1990 to coordinate their activities resolving natural resource
liability at these three sites. A Pre-assessment Screen was prepared by the
SLETC in 1991. A cooperative assessment was initiated between the SLETC and the
Companies in 2000. This process is an ongoing effort to assess injuries (by
quantity or quality) to ecological resources such as sediment, fish, birds,
mammals, reptiles and amphibians. There is also a parallel effort to quantify
injury to recreational fishing and tribal cultural resources.
