The Energy Department's Shawn Eichelberger, site manager of the former industrial site in Colonie, New York. | https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawn-eichelberger-p-g-387b1313/overlay/photo/
An 11.2-acre vacant property in Colonie, New York, that the federal government remediated of residual radiological contamination has returned to private ownership effective Jan. 5.
The former upstate New York industrial site at 1130 Central Ave. that produced items manufactured from uranium and thorium is under private ownership through a General Services Administration auction, a news release said. The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management, under the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program, had conducted long-term stewardship of the site.
“This represents a huge milestone for the site,” site manager Shawn Eichelberger said in the release. “Getting our sites back into beneficial reuse is always one of LM’s primary goals.”
National Lead Industries began a foundry in 1937 at the site, producing items manufactured from uranium and thorium in 1958, the release said. The federal government acquired the property after the New York State Supreme Court shut down the plant in 1984 because of airborne uranium.
The U.S. Department of Energy oversaw the site’s cleanup, and later the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began remediation of the area. The site was transferred on Sept. 30, 2019, to Legacy Management for long-term stewardship.
“Once the site became our responsibility, we immediately began exploring how to make it available for redevelopment to benefit the community,” Legacy Management Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program manager Darina Castillo said in the release.
Legacy Management will continue long-term stewardship, including “monitoring groundwater, managing site records and conducting long-term periodic reviews with coordination from the new owner and the New York Department of Environmental Conservation,” the release said.
“It took a lot of work and collaboration to get where we are today,” Castillo said. “Getting the property back into private ownership is a tribute to USACE’s [U.S. Army Corps of Engineers] dedication to cleanup and to the GSA’s [General Services Administration] commitment to disposition.”
Eichelberger expressed hope for the future.
“Back in the 1920s, a toy manufacturer operated at the site,” Eichelberger said. “The site has had a fascinating past, and I’m looking forward to seeing its exciting future.”
