EPA to hold public meeting on American Thermostat site

SOUTH CAIRO―The Village of Catskill is expected to begin construction this spring on the first phase of waterline extension to residents affected, or potentially affected, by contamination from the American Thermostat Company Superfund site.

Those plans are among topics that will be discussed next month during a community meeting hosted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that is funding the project to the tune of around $5 million.

Phase 1 will extend the existing waterline down Route 23B to Country Estates manufactured home park. Phase 2 includes a waterline loop that begins at Country Estates, goes to and around Scotch Rock Road, to and around Route 23B to R McLaren Road, and then back to Country Estates. A total of 61 residents will be served.

Some homes in those areas, more than half a mile northwest of the old plant, are still testing positive for contaminated well water despite the four decades that have passed since American Thermostat shut down.

“The extended waterline will provide drinking water to residents who are affected or potentially affected by groundwater contamination from the American Thermostat Co. site in South Cairo,” the EPA noted.

In 1986, the American Thermostat site was included on the Superfund National Priorities List which gives the EPA the money and authority to clean up contaminated sites. In 1992, the EPA funded the first 3.5-mile long extension from the Village of Catskill’s water transmission main to around 52 homes in the area of the old plant.

Because the Village already provides drinking water to the area, the Village is now designing and will be constructing the new portion of the waterline. The EPA awarded the funding last September.

American Thermostat built thermostats for small appliances at an eight-acre manufacturing facility located between State Route 23 and Route 23B from 1954 to 1985. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) discovered in 1981 that plant employees had been pouring waste organic solvents down drains attached to an abandoned septic system for several years and dumping sludges on the parking lot.

Upon the finding, State officials tested drinking water wells in the vicinity of the facility and found them to be contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE) and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including tetrachloroethylene (PCE). Drinking water that has tetrachloroethylene may increase a person's risk of cancer, in addition to causing liver and kidney damage.

Under state orders, American Thermostat agreed to clean up the property and its surroundings; provide, monitor, and maintain carbon filtration systems for the affected private wells; and supply bottled water to the affected residents. But they dropped the ball. American Thermostat abruptly shut its doors in May of 1985 and later declared bankruptcy.

The property, now privately owned, has been routinely monitored by the EPA and DEC. In in July of 2024, the EPA held a public meeting in Catskill to discuss a new investigation and ongoing study after discovering that groundwater contaminants at the shuttered American Thermostat plant have not significantly decreased in more than two decades.

The 60 or so South Cairo area residents and local officials who attended didn’t care much about new on-site remediation plans the EPA talked about―they came out to demand clean water.

Since then, the EPA has been working with the Village of Catskill, Town of Catskill, Town of Cairo, Greene County, New York State Department of Health (DOH) and DEC to extend the water line and the federal agency awarded funding to the Village last September.

“For more than 25 years, EPA, and DEC have been pumping and treating groundwater contaminated with volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, from beneath the American Thermostat Co. property and off-property areas where the contaminated groundwater flows,” the EPA stated.

“Because the level of contamination in the groundwater has not decreased significantly during this time, EPA believes that there could be contamination remaining in the soil on the site property that is impacting the groundwater,” the agency added.

Next month’s public meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 12 at the Greene County Emergency Services building on Mountain Avenue in Cairo. The Village’s waterline construction engineer will be there to talk about the extension plans and officials from the EPA, DOH and DEC will also be present to answer questions about the ongoing investigation.

The meeting begins at 4 p.m. with an open house until 6 p.m. when a formal hour-long presentation will take place. Officials will be on hand until 8 p.m. for informal one-on-one discussions.

The ongoing EPA study seeks to identify any remaining contamination in the soil at the American Thermostat site property and will include evaluating options to address any contamination that is found.

“After the study is finished, EPA will prepare and share a plan that summarizes the findings of the investigation and will include a proposed cleanup approach for the site,” the agency stated.