[caption id="attachment_4368" align="alignleft" width="224" caption="NAPA Auto Parts store in Catskill on former site of Catskill Chrome Plating Company and later a Superfund site. "][/caption]

Doron Tyler Antrim in The Daily Mail reported last week that a residential property on Cauterskill Road in Catskill may be taken off the state Superfund list in January, according to the Department of Environmental Conservation. "Records show the former property owners to be Patricia and Paul Helmadach, who once owned the Catskill Chrome Plating Company on West Bridge Street," Antrim wrote. "That site was listed as a federal Superfund site until March 2007. The half-acre property, located at 5040-5048 Cauterskill Road, was used for the storage and disposal of plating solutions and untreated sludges from the mid 1980s until 1993, according to DEC records. Soil samples showed significant levels of cadmium, chromium and cyanide contamination." Google maps (View Larger Map) show 5040 Cauterskill Road is perhaps the location -- it is within a mile of Kaaterskill Creek. Antrim's story says the cleanup there took five years with 2,000 cubic yards of soil removed, costing $385,000.



According to the DEC the plating solutions and sludges found at the home came from the Helmedach-owned Catskill Chrome Plating Company, located on West Bridge Street where NAPA Auto Parts is, a short distance from the Price Chopper where many in this community purchase their food. That location, according to the article, became an Environmental Protection Agency-administered Superfund site after the plating company closed in 1993. DEC records say residual plating waste of acids and caustic liquids were left in open vats. Disposal areas for chromium and cyanide plating sludge were also discovered outside the building. Work there cleaning up that site was completed in November 2005 and the site was taken off the Superfund list in 2007, according to the article. This listing of New York State Superfund sites does not mention the Cauterskill Road location, but does mention the plating company and a few other sites in Greene and Columbia counties. Public comments on the Cauterskill Road property can be made until the end of the year before its removal from the Superfund January 31, 2011. To comment write to: Michael Mason, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Division of Environmental Remediation, Remedial Bureau E, 625 Broadway, Albany N.Y. 12233. Mason can be contacted at 518-402-9814 or at mamason@gw.dec.state.ny.us.

Catskill
CATSKILL CATSKILL CHROME PLATING INC 370 WEST BRIDGE STREET NYD085751667
CATSKILL CATSKILL TIRE FIRE RT 9 & BOULVEVARD AVENUE NYD986882637
CATSKILL CENTRAL HUDSON G & E /CATSKILL GAS WATER ST NYD980531826
CATSKILL CFG YACHT CO MAIN ST NYD980528376
Cairo
CAIRO GREENE CTY LF EAST OF ROSS RULAND NYD980506695
SOUTH CAIRO AMERICAN THERMOSTAT CO RTE 23 B NYD002066330
Coxsackie
COXSACKIE AMERICAN VALVE 170 MANSION ST NYD002069573
Durham
DURHAM (T) DURHAM-GREENVILLE LF STATE RTE 145 NYD980508188
Surprise
SURPRISE ROYAL METALS PRODUCTS WEST ROAD NYD002079374

Columbia County
Chatham
CHATHAM COLUMBIA CORP LF NY RTE 295 NYD002063147
Claverack
TOWN OF CLAVERACK CLAVERACK LANDFILL SNYDER TOWN ROAD NYD986886075
Hudson
HUDSON HUDSON COAL TAR RIVER STREET NYD987039104

Between the counties
UNKNOWN HUDSON RIVER MIDDLE OF THE RIVER NYD982540205