Welcome to the Grasse River remediation site. This online resource provides both technical detail and answers to commonly asked questions for the Grasse River area community. If this is your first time visiting www.thegrasseriver.com, these points should provide a quick overview to the project and its key details.
The project will enter a long-term monitoring and maintenance phase starting in 2022. This will include monitoring of the caps with maintenance performed as necessary and monitoring PCB levels in fish and water. Planting will continue into 2022 and revegetated areas will be tracked over time to ensure they are recovering as expected.
Elevated levels of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) have been found in the Grasse River. PCBs were historically used in many hydraulic and other systems, as was common in many industrial companies and processes across the nation during the 1950s and 1960s. The EPA found that consumption of fish with elevated PCBs levels from the Grasse River presented a potential risk. There is currently an "eat no fish" NYSDOH advisory on the Grasse River from the Power Canal down to the mouth where it enters the St. Lawrence.
Read more about the project in the project overview.
EPA began the Superfund program in 1980 to eliminate potential threats to human health and the environment from hazardous substances that had been released as a result of historic disposal practices. The EPA works closely with communities, the companies responsible for the releases, scientists, researchers, contractors, and state, local, tribal, and federal authorities.
See more about the history of this process in the project timeline.
On April 5, 2013, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) issued a Record of Decision (ROD) for the Grasse River which outlined the cleanup plan. The ROD is consistent with the plan proposed in October 2012. The plan called for dredging of some near-shore sediments, capping in the main channel, and armored capping in ice scour prone sections of the river.
The ROD is available at EPA's website. (By clicking this link, you will leave the Alcoa Grasse River Project website.)
The in-river remediation portion of the EPA selected remedy for the lower Grasse River began in spring 2019 and the major elements were completed at the end of 2021. The next step includes overall monitoring. The overall goal of the project is to reduce polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) levels in fish and other organisms in the river for the long-term protection of human health and the environment.
Conversion of the area to public access is planned but the timing is unknown as access requirements for future Grasse River O&M needs are still being determined.
The fish consumption advisory established by the New York State Department of Health for the lower Grasse River will remain in effect until PCB concentrations in fish are reduced to the point where the advisory is relaxed or lifted by the state. The time for this to occur cannot be predicted with certainty but is expected to take a number of years. PCB levels in fish will be monitored on a regular basis as part of the long-term monitoring program for the project.
The additional work required following the completion of construction in 2021 is the result of damage from an ice jam that occurred in 2022 at a location where there was no previous evidence of ice jam formation. The cap repairs being implemented are designed to prevent future ice jam related damage to the cap in this section of river.