Construction to Resume on Grasse River Clean Up Project

Construction work will resume in late May on a facility that will be used as a staging area to support future dredging and capping operations for a $243 million dredging project to clean up PCB’s from the Grasse River in New York. The construction, engineering plans and other design work for the facility must be completed before dredging can begin. The Environmental Protection Agency, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe are working together on the oversight and coordination of the cleanup project which began in the spring of 2017.

Work is expected to include completion of a sheet pile wall along the riverfront at the staging area; construction of a dock facility; removal of a small amount along the shoreline next to the staging area; removal of soil along the north shore of the river near the Alcoa Bridge; re-opening of the secure landfill for disposal of shoreline sediment and soil; and performance of an in-river capping test.

The clean-up plan was chosen by EPA in 2013 and includes dredging approximately 109,000 cubic yards of sediment from near-shore areas of the river. Approximately 59 acres of sediment in the river’s main channel will be covered with an armored cap, and another 225 acres of contaminated sediment will be capped with a mix of clean sand and topsoil. The project spans 7.2 miles of the Grasse River near Massena, New York.