On Tuesday, December 4, 2018, FMC held an information meeting to bring community officials up to date on plant activities and the remediation process in and around Middleport. Officials from the village a long with the Supervisors from the towns of Yates and Hartland attended.
A new remediation project coordinator was introduced. Elizabeth (Liz) Madara will be assuming those duties replacing Nick Schapman. Nick came on board just a year ago. Liz has a background as an environmental consultant.
The DEC will continue to remediate the Air Deposition Area and the school yard in Middleport during 2019 and 2020 without FMC. Although the Agency has announced only one more phase for school remediation, it was thought that there is too much area to cleanup for it to be completed in 2019, so there may be some amount of work to do in 2020. It was also mentioned that the school has some issues with the DEC plan concerning accessibility to certain areas of the campus during the remediation process.
After the Air Deposition Area is completed it is believed the DEC will be remediating Culvert 105 between Sleeper St. and the sewage treatment plant along with any areas of the culvert not already done between Sleeper and the canal. This activity will also be performed without FMC. There is no schedule for this. The culvert south of the canal will be done as individual properties that the underground culvert passes through are remediated.
FMC continues to work with the DEC and EPA on Jeddo Creek and its tributary that runs through Middleport. FMC has submitted the Corrective Action Measures for the tributary but the DEC/EPA have asked for revisions. The two sides could not come to an agreement so they are in dispute resolution. It is now doubtful that any work can begin in 2019.
A proposal for the eastern area of the FMC plant (past proposed site for the CAMU) was submitted to the Agencies on December 29, 2017, but there has been no feedback.
The Administrative Judge is continuing to review the submitted briefs supporting or opposing the Hazardous Waste Management Facility Permit Application. These briefs were to be submitted by last spring. The permit, if so ordered, will replace the AOC (Administrative Order of Consent) that FMC and the Agencies are currently working by and will continue to until the status of the permit is resolved.
FMC had begun some sampling activities along the Jeddo Creek north of Pearson Rd but stopped when hunting season began . They will resume next spring. Any sampling results obtained so far have been submitted to the Agencies.
FMC has added three new product lines at the Middleport plant and are in the process of adding a fourth. These lines are from product acquisitions from Dupont. There was a 55% increase in production of their product Command. FMC has invested 3 million dollars in plant improvements in 2018 and plan to invest 8 million in 2019. There is also a plan on the table to construct a building to house new labs and offices. The intent is to become more than just a manufacturing site. They would like to be able to demonstrate products to potential customers at the plant.
