Demolishing a Chemical Company’s Radioactive Past in Ridgewood, Queens

The feds are moving to clean up a small patch of radiologically contaminated land where the Wolff-Alport Chemical Company supplied material used to develop nuclear weapons.

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The Wolff-Alport Chemical Company is a Superfund site located in Ridgewood, Queens, right on the border of Bushwick, Brooklyn.

For over three decades, starting in the 1920s, the company imported monazite sands from Congo to extract and sell rare earth minerals.

After World War II, the federal Atomic Energy Commission, tasked with developing new nuclear weapons, contracted with Wolff-Alport for material.

The company dumped waste containing thorium, a radioactive element, in the soils around the property and into the sewers until 1947.

Testing in the late 1980s revealed radiological contamination in the soil and buildings on site, as well as under a rail spur that had been used to transport the sands to the Wolff-Alport Company.

The levels did not exceed federal standards at the time. But as those standards became more rigorous, further testing in the 2000s determined that the radiation levels were of concern.

In 2012, the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry found that workers in the area and people who frequently strolled along its sidewalks faced possible health risks due to radiation exposure.

In 2014, the Environmental Protection Agency designated the area a Superfund site.

The EPA installed systems to vent harmful fumes as well as physical shields to block radon. The agency also tested for radon at a nearby daycare center, located about two blocks away from the site. At the time, officials said they wanted to ensure the safety of children. The EPA found nothing in the daycare, which gave the daycare’s director at the time, Julie Dent, some peace of mind.

The site itself was a different story. As early as 2017, local business owners — several auto shops, an ice distributor, a deli and a construction company among them — knew they’d have to leave the site so that the EPA could start work on it. But not all of them went willingly. In 2021, the EPA gave the remaining businesses a 2022 deadline — but it came and went.

In 2023, the Department of Justice filed a complaint against the remaining three businesses, and a federal judge ordered them to leave by the end of August. The last of the businesses left in early September. “They say they were going to help us out to relocate,” said Andy Bermeo, who owned the auto shop that was the last to leave the site. “I don't think it’s fair.”

Once the businesses left, the EPA’s contractors began preparing to demolish the buildings. Later, they will excavate the soil, and the city will remediate the sewers and sidewalks. That will permanently eliminate the contamination, at which point property owners will get their clean land back.

Written and reported by Samantha Maldonado. Design and development by Sam Rabiyah. Editing by Harry Siegel. Photos by Ben Fractenberg, Alex Krales and Samantha Maldonado. Additional development by Sujin Shin. Additional reporting by Jordan Gass-Pooré.

Data sources: superfund site boundaries via the EPA.