Officials urge cleanup of factory site

STAR LAKE — Community officials are pushing for completion of a cleanup plan for the former Jones & Laughlin Steel Co. site to pave the way for businesses such as a wood chip dryer that would supply fuel to Newton Falls Fine Paper and other potential customers.

"It's all intertwined," said Christopher L. Westbrook, president of the Clifton-Fine Economic Development Corp. "We have a number of forest-based industries that are very interested in this. We have to have a can-do attitude. Look at what happened with the paper mill. Let's keep that energy going."

St. Lawrence County and the state Department of Environmental Conservation are working on a plan to clean J&L's 54-acre site of fuel oil and other chemicals spilled during processing of iron ore from the nearby Benson Mines.

"I believe because we have at least one company interested in the site, that helps get all kinds of groups behind you," Mr. Westbrook said.

He called a meeting March 17 to bring together interested parties, including DEC, the Adirondack Park Agency and the paper mill.

"We actually have some momentum," Fine Supervisor Mark C. Hall said. "To bring more jobs into this area would be sensational."

The paper mill recently announced its plan to install a biomass-fired steam boiler, with its energy of choice dried pulverized wood, and auxiliary equipment to replace fuel oil.

The mill is talking with Northern Biofuels Energy, Chateaugay, about supplying the dried chips from a state-of-the-art facility that would employ about a dozen people. A number of other spinoff jobs also are possible.

The J&L site is among several Northern Biofuels is investigating, President John H. Dowd said.

"It's an industrial site in the Adirondack Park. We would like to have a site where the trees are," he said. "We only need 10 to 12 acres. Is it usable? Definitely."

The location of the J&L site is strategic, said Raymond H. Fountain, executive director of the county Industrial Development Agency.

"It's important because it is an industrial site in the Adirondacks. Everybody knows the cleanup needs to be done. Part of that cleanup is reuse," he said. "There clearly would be an interest in that site if we could take care of the environmental problems."

DEC is mindful of the possibility of development, project manager William R. Jesmore said.

"There's a lot of ifs, but if they fall in line, we could be doing remediation this fall," he said. "It's overdue, getting cleaned up. I'm really hopeful this time we get it done."

Mr. Jesmore has worked on the site for a dozen years. As Benson Mines, the site operated to supply iron ore for steel in the Civil War. J&L took over in the 1930s for the war effort. After 1945, the War Department sold 54 acres, which are among the most contaminated of the 3,500-acre site, to J&L, which closed in 1977. Some of the contaminants are fuel oil, pentachlorophenol oil, solvents, mercury, asbestos and lead paint.

DEC and the county are reviewing the remedial plan that will identify what needs to be done to the entire site, even though not all of it may ever be squeaky clean, how the work can be done while development takes place, and whether the site can be divided up.

"We want to be strategic about how we identify remedial options," county Planning Director Keith J. Zimmerman said. "We all have to end up with a report that leads us to an end that is achievable and desirable."