Schumer Unveils Plan to Clean Up Seneca County Toxic Eyesores

Standing across Routes 5& 20 from the  contaminated, long-abandoned Buisch’s gas station brownfield site, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer joined with Seneca County officials and announced a two pronged plan to get the federal government to help clean up two Waterloo sites.

Schumer says the Finger Lakes has had to deal with contaminated eyesores for far too long and it is time for the feds to help transform this site to keep neighborhoods safe, healthy, and growing.

Schumer is putting his full support behind Seneca County and the Finger Lakes Regional Land Bank Corporation in their effort to secure a federal brownfield grant of $500,000 to kickstart the redevelopment of the Buisch property and the old George’s store property across the Waterloo-Geneva Road.

Schumer says he will push to reauthorize the EPA’s Brownfield Program which is set to expire at the end of the year so Seneca County can rely on further EPA grants.

Seneca County Planner and FL Land Bank CEO Joe McGrath, Seneca County Supervisors Chairman Mike Enslow, Senator Chuck Schumer, Waterloo Supervisor Robert Shipley, Lodi Supervisor Kyle Barnhart, Tyre Supervisor Elizabeth Partee, and Junius Supervisor Ernest Brownell. Photo by Greg Cotterill.

Senator Schumer and Waterloo Supervisors Mike Enslow and Robert Shipley. Photo by Greg Cotterill.

The old Buisch Garage at 1265 Waterloo-Geneva Road, Waterloo

Seneca County has identified several other sites that will need to be assessed, cleaned up and redeveloped with the help of federal funds:

• Povero’s gas station at 170 Ovid Street, Seneca Falls.
• Old landfills at 3454 West Covert Road, Covert and 3580 Route 96, Fayette.
• Old tire lots at 84 Auburn Road, Seneca Falls, 8538 Route 414, Lodi.
• A vacant, rural junkyard on Border City Road, Waterloo.
• Abandoned agricultural land on Seneca Road in Lodi
• The old Seneca Falls Hospital site along VanCleef Lake, Seneca Falls.

Schumer has written a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency supporting Seneca County’s Brownfields Community Assessment Grant.

Listen to Senator Majority Leader Schumer’s full comments-