For 45 days starting soon, drill rigs and sampling crews will move through a Rye Brook neighborhood hunting for mercury left behind by an illegal refining operation that ended more than 30 years ago.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is investigating renewed contamination at 55 Hillandale Road, a Superfund site once home to an unlicensed mercury recovery business. Rye Brook Mayor Jason Klein disclosed the probe in a community message Wednesday, saying the village learned of the state's plans only five days earlier.
"It is concerning to the Village that it has taken so long for federal and state agencies to contact us with this information," Klein wrote.
Federal testing in 2022 found elevated mercury vapor in a residential basement sump near the site — proof the contamination never fully went away. That finding pushed the state to reclassify the property as a potential hazardous waste site and order new testing.
Chemist Edmund Barbera ran an unlicensed mercury recovery operation called Port Refinery out of his garage at the address for roughly 20 years, selling the recovered mercury for dental fillings. The EPA shut him down in the early 1990s. He died in 1995.
Two federal cleanups since then have removed more than 15,600 tons of contaminated soil, at a combined cost of about $13.4 million. In 2004, soil at one nearby spot tested 130 times over the government's mercury limit.
What's happening now?
- A crew of four to five workers will drill for soil and groundwater samples and install monitoring wells in public rights-of-way.
- Fieldwork is expected to run at least 45 days.
- Work zones will be marked with traffic cones.
- Air monitors will track mercury and other pollutants at each site perimeter. Extra monitors go up if drilling happens within 20 feet of an occupied home.
- Indoor and outdoor air testing on nearby properties could follow if early results warrant it.
Hillandale Road homes near the site currently carry estimated values of $1.6 million to $3.3 million, according to Redfin. The site sits about a quarter-mile from Blind Brook High School.
The state will compile a Site Characterization Report once fieldwork ends. More cleanup could follow, depending on results. No public hearing or comment period has been scheduled yet.
Klein said the village will keep residents updated. Project records, including the 2022 sampling report, are available through the NYSDEC's public records portal under site number 360033.
