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

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United states

Authors:

Samantha Maldonado
Grantee

Jordan Gass-Pooré
Grantee

English

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The Environmental Protection Agency fenced off the Wolff-Alport Superfund site in Ridgewood. Image by Alex Krales/THE CITY. United States, 2023.

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.

Map of the Wolff-Alport Chemical Company in Ridgewood, Queens — Map courtesy of The City.

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.

Image courtesy of the New York City Department of Records and Information Services.

One of the last remaining automotive businesses on the Wolff-Alport Chemical Company Superfund site. Image courtesy of THE CITY. United States, 2023.

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

EPA workers blocked contaminated areas at the Wolff-Alport Chemical Company Superfund site in Queens. Image by Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY. United States, 2023.

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.

Superfund-site radiation safety officer Juan Garza walks through former Wolff-Alport Chemical Company site. Image by Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY. United States, 2023.

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.

EPA project manager Tom Mongelli looks over the Wolff-Alport Superfund site. Image by Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY. United States, 2023.

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.

Workers have started the remediation process at the Wolff-Alport Chemical Company Superfund site. Image by Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY. United States, 2023.

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

Julie Dent, former chair of the local community board and former director of a day care close to the superfund site that received testing for radioactive contamination. Image by Samantha Maldonado. United States, 2023.

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.

Los Primos Auto Repair and Sale owner Alberto Rodriguez works to remove equipment from his Ridgewood shop after being forced out so the Environmental Protection Agency can start to remediate a Superfund site. Image courtesy of THE CITY. United States, 2023.

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.

Bushwick auto shop owner Andy Bermeo says he will not move his business even though it sits over the Wolff-Alport Chemical Company Superfund site in Ridgewood. Image by Samantha Maldonado. United States, 2023.

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.”

Contractors amassed materials and belongings left inside the former auto shops near the Wolff-Alport Chemical Company toxic site in preparation for the buildings’ demolition. Image by Samantha Maldonado. United States, 2023.

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.