cleanup · Chautauqua County
Ellison Bronze Company
Falconer
Long-running bronze-door manufacturer and foundry where metal-bearing foundry material affected soil and sediment. Stabilization, containment, groundwater monitoring, and land-use controls continue under a Class 4 State Superfund record.
The documented story
What happened here?
Ellison Bronze's West Main Street plant in Falconer has long produced brass and bronze doors and hardware. Like many foundries, it generated sand, metal filings, dust, and other residues; some of that material was historically deposited at the rear of the operating property.
Because the foundry handled brass, portions of the waste contained lead above state criteria. New York's remedy did not try to excavate every grain of foundry material. In 1995 the company blended the defined waste with cement in place, turning a loose, leachable material into a stabilized mass that could be contained and monitored.
Verification testing after stabilization and later groundwater sampling found no lead leaching from the treated waste, according to the 2015–2020 periodic review. That result supports the remedy's performance, while Class 4 status preserves maintenance, groundwater checks, land-use controls, and periodic certification around an operating factory.
Chronology in context
Turning points in the public record
Historic operating era
Foundry workers produced brass doors and hardware, and metal filings and other residuals were deposited behind the plant.
June 1995
Ellison Bronze and DEC entered a consent order governing remediation of the lead-bearing foundry waste.
1995–1996
The defined waste was stabilized in place with cement, verified by testing, and placed under continuing monitoring and maintenance.
2015–2020 review
Periodic review reported the stabilization remained effective and groundwater testing showed no lead leaching from the treated mass.
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.
Foundry waste is stabilized rather than treated as a disappearing contaminant
DEC selected stabilization and containment for persistent metal-bearing material. The remedy's human meaning is continuing stewardship: land-use controls, groundwater monitoring and maintenance remain necessary around an operating industrial property.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation ↗Environmental record
Documented impacts
- Lead-bearing filings and foundry waste exceeded state criteria in the historical rear disposal area.
- The remedy was designed around a persistent metal, which does not break down and therefore had to be physically stabilized and isolated.
- The cleanup record is specific to the industrial property and evaluated environmental media; it should not be generalized to all of Falconer.
Response
Cleanup and controls
- Cement stabilization bound the lead-bearing waste in place, and verification testing checked the treated material's performance.
- Groundwater monitoring, repair as needed, land-use controls, and periodic review preserve the stabilized remedy around an active plant.
Then and now
The site today
Ellison Bronze is both an operating manufacturer and a managed historic disposal site. The record does not accuse current production of causing an uncontrolled release; it documents why a cement-stabilized waste area behind the plant still receives long-term attention.
Atlas connections
Connected places
These collections explain documented material, facility, waterway, ownership, or cleanup relationships. Inclusion does not imply that every place shares one contaminant source or plume.
Southern Tier small-industry cleanups
Foundries, furniture and veneer works, machining plants, dry cleaners, and rural disposal sites show that Western New York's cleanup history extends well beyond its largest waterfront factories.
Farwell Road represents a managed hazardous-waste landfill outside the major urban industrial corridors.
Municipal landfillCarroll LandfillCarroll connects local waste disposal to wetlands, Conewango Creek, and long-term treatment.
Tool-manufacturing complexD.C. Rollforms / Proto ToolProto Tool brings electroplating, heat treatment, degreasing, and river-edge remediation into the collection.
Small solvent siteC&B Dry CleanersThe dry cleaner demonstrates how a very small parcel can create a consequential subsurface cleanup.
Coatings and solvent siteEssex / Hope SiteEssex / Hope documents a long-running coatings property with an amended remedy and a separately investigated downgradient area.
Chlorinated-solvent groundwater cleanupDowcraft — South Dow StreetDowcraft connects former manufacturing and vapor degreasing to continuing groundwater treatment and monitoring.
Municipal and industrial-waste landfillJamestown City LandfillThe former city landfill preserves Jamestown's documented municipal and industrial-disposal history while clearly stating its current Class 3 status.
Bronze foundry cleanupEllison Bronze CompanyEllison Bronze adds metal-bearing foundry material, stabilization, containment, and continuing management to the Falconer record.
Petroleum and veneer worksBush IndustriesBush Industries layers early petroleum use with later wood-products manufacturing.
Foundry and machine shopRandolph FoundryRandolph adds discarded foundry sand, drums, and asbestos to the southern-tier industrial record.
Die-casting and machining plantLexington MachiningLexington documents solvent use and long-term groundwater management at a smaller manufacturing plant.