National Grid : Former Manufactured Gas Site To Undergo Remediation Efforts In Next Year Along Whitehall, Linden Streets In City Of Cohoes

COHOES, NY- A public meeting to discuss efforts to clean up a former manufactured gas plant (MGP) site located in the City of Cohoes, and owned by National Grid, will be held on Tuesday, August 31 at 7 p.m. at the Cohoes Senior Center at 10 Cayuga Plaza.

The project will begin in late August and continue through 2022. National Grid, under the oversight of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, will lead the effort to clean up the former site that operated from 1852-1949.

The project will take place along Whitehall and Linden Streets between NYS Route 787 and the Mohawk River, and will affect traffic patterns including the road closure of Whitehall and Linden streets in the area of the site from September 2021 until November 2022.

NYSDEC administers the manufactured gas plant remedial program site investigation and cleanup of contaminated sites. Sites where contamination has been released to the environment go through a process of investigation, evaluation, clean up and post-remedial monitoring.

The gas manufacturing process at the turn of the 20th century involved the heating of coal and/or petroleum products to produce a gas mixture. Once cooled and purified, the gas was distributed through a local pipeline network for heating and cooking much like natural gas is used today. In the early years prior to the invention of electricity, the gas was also used for lighting homes, businesses and streets. A by-product known as coal tar would condense out of the gas at various stages during its production, purification and distribution, and be sold for a variety of uses. However, some of the by-product impacted site soils and ground water.

National Grid and its contractor will stabilize contamination and replace some soil in accordance with the Department of Environmental Conservation-approved remedial action plan. Once all remediation work has been completed, the site will be restored for future use.

'From the 1860s until approximately 1950 there were many manufactured gas plants across New York State providing municipal gas for heating, lighting and other usage,' said National Grid Environmental Manager Steven Stucker. 'Since 1992, National Grid has worked with the State to remediate these sites to protect human health and the environment and to restore these properties to their highest and best land use.'