As the result of testing completed in February, General Electric has excavated and removed from its former site at 200 State Street, Brockport, sediment in storm sewers that has been found to contain elevated levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). On April 5, sediment from an abandoned sewer line near the northeast corner of the main building was removed, and on April 19, sediment from three manholes inside the main plant building was removed.

The contamination is alleged to have been the result of manufacturing activities at the site. The plant was operated by General Electric from 1949 to 1984 and then by Black and Decker until 1986. The facility is currently leased by Kleen-Brite Laboratories.

General Electric has agreed to submit two new clean-up plans to the Department of Environmental Conservation. One will include the cleaning of the on-site storm sewer system to remove PCB contaminated sediment. The second plan will include removing PCBs from tributary three of the Brockport Creek and adjacent soils and storm sewers off-site. The DEC has stated that it wants the clean-up work to be well underway this construction season.

General Electric is supposed to present its two new plans to the DEC by May 4. Once the plans are reviewed, they will be presented to the public, probably in late May or early June.

General Electric is in the process of installing a groundwater treatment system on Lyman Street that should be in operation by the end of May. As of January, more than 64 million gallons of groundwater had been collected and treated at GE’s State Street plant. The purpose of the Lyman Street treatment system is to increase the volume of water that can be collected and treated.

The DEC is also working with the 3M company, which was formerly located next to the GE facility, to remove soils and sediments that are contaminated with PCBs, cyanide and heavy metals.