cleanup · Erie County
Bengart & Memel
Buffalo
A former Clinton Street scrap-metal yard dismantled PCB-filled transformers and capacitors, underwent an experimental 1980s cleanup, and returned to active Superfund work after its cap and groundwater system fell into disrepair.
The documented story
What happened here?
Bengart & Memel recovered metals and alloys at 1079–1091 Clinton Street, accepting electrical transformers and capacitors at a compact scrap yard surrounded by other industrial properties. Spilled insulating oil from that equipment contaminated soil and shallow groundwater with polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs.
The pollution did not remain an abstract condition beneath the yard. DEC reported that PCB-affected runoff reached the Buffalo Sewer Authority's combined sewer on Clinton Street in the early 1980s. A 1982 consent order led to excavation, off-site disposal, an asphalt cap, and a shallow-groundwater collection and treatment system.
Part of the soil work was an EPA demonstration project intended to reduce PCB concentration and toxicity. The treatment was considered complete in 1986, but contaminated soil remained beneath the cap and the collection system still needed operation and maintenance. The original property was later subdivided, and neither the cap nor the groundwater system was properly maintained after ownership changes and abandonment.
That breakdown is the turning point in the story. DEC returned in 2006 to determine whether the old controls were still protective and found widespread PCB contamination in fill, water accumulated in the failed system, and contaminated material inside a deteriorated building. The findings moved the site from a maintenance classification back to Class 2, meaning the state considered it a significant environmental threat requiring action.
Chronology in context
Turning points in the public record
Early 1980s
PCB oil released during transformer and capacitor scrapping contaminated the yard, shallow groundwater, and runoff reaching the Clinton Street combined sewer.
1982–1986
A state consent order produced soil treatment and removal, an asphalt cap, and a shallow-groundwater collection and treatment system; the EPA demonstration portion ended in 1986.
Late 1980s–2000s
The original parcel was divided and sold. DEC later found that the cap and water-treatment equipment had not been properly maintained and the remaining site had been abandoned.
2006–2009
A limited investigation found PCBs across surface and subsurface fill, in shallow groundwater and standing water, and on surfaces inside the building. DEC restored the property to Class 2.
November 2009
A state interim measure began with asbestos abatement and building demolition, decommissioning of the failed treatment system, excavation and off-site disposal, grading, gravel cover, and new fencing.
Present
The parcel remains in New York's State Superfund inventory; the current remedy and monitoring status must be read from the latest state design and construction record.
News record
Major news events
Coverage selected here marks a turning point in public awareness, policy, enforcement, employment, or cleanup. Links open at the original publisher or archive; WNYAtlas does not reproduce restricted articles or images.
New York returns to an abandoned scrap yard after the first remedy fails
DEC told residents that the former operator and later owner had not maintained the asphalt cap or groundwater system installed after the original PCB response. The state planned to demolish the unsafe building, remove contaminated soil and fill, and rebuild the parcel's protective surface.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation ↗Chemical guide
Chemicals named in this record
These links explain potential hazards and exposure pathways. A chemical named in a record does not establish that anyone was exposed or harmed.
Environmental record
Documented impacts
- PCBs were the primary contaminant. The 2006 investigation reported numerous soil and fill samples above then-applicable cleanup criteria, including several above the 50-parts-per-million hazardous-waste threshold and one beneath the building at 334 parts per million.
- Water sampled from a monitoring point, the inactive collection-system sump, the oil-water separator, and the treatment pad contained PCBs above the comparison standard used in the report. Investigators also found chlorinated benzenes, carbon tetrachloride, petroleum-related compounds, PAHs, and metals in selected fill or water samples.
- DEC identified direct contact with contaminated soil, inhalation of contaminated dust, and migration in runoff as pathways requiring control. Those potential pathways justified the interim action; they do not establish that every neighboring property or sewer discharge contained the same concentrations.
- The site's human story is partly a story of stewardship failure: a remedy designed to contain residual pollution depended on maintenance, but responsible parties stopped maintaining it and the state had to return decades later.
Response
Cleanup and controls
- The 1980s response combined experimental PCB soil treatment, excavation and regulated disposal, an asphalt containment cap, and shallow-groundwater collection and treatment.
- After those systems deteriorated, the 2009 interim measure removed the unsafe building and PCB-affected materials, dismantled the inoperable groundwater equipment, and restored the parcel with a graded gravel cover and perimeter fencing. Community air monitoring and health-and-safety controls were required during construction.
- The second intervention should not be described as proof that the first cleanup did nothing. It shows that residual-contamination remedies remain protective only when their engineered systems and legal obligations are maintained.
- Current claims about redevelopment, groundwater quality, or completion require the latest DEC remedial-design, construction-completion, and monitoring documents; the 2009 public notice described planned work, not a permanent unrestricted-use finding.
Then and now
The site today
Bengart & Memel remains a regulated State Superfund property. The documentary record clearly establishes the historical releases and two generations of response, but WNYAtlas will not call the land unrestricted or the groundwater restored without a current state closeout and monitoring record.