Harbor Point is approximately 140 acres of land located between Utica Barge Canal Harbor and the Mohawk River. The area was developed for industrial purposes in the mid 1800’s and has been the site of two manufactured gas plants (MGPs), a coal-fired steam plant, a petroleum storage and distribution facility (Mohawk Valley Oil) and a tar products plant (New York Tar Emulsions Products (NYTEP)). In the 1920s, the Harbor Point peninsula was the location of the largest energy-producing complex in North America.
Adjacent to the Harbor Point property is the former Monarch Chemical property which is being addressed by another party under a separate cleanup order. Currently, a gas regulator station, electric substation and National Grid’s remediation research facilities occupy Harbor Point. The remainder of the Harbor Point Site is largely undeveloped land. The nearest residential area is a multi-family public housing complex located across the railroad tracks, about 500 feet beyond the southern-most site boundary.
The New York State Canal Corporation is the primary user of Utica Harbor, which defines the eastern side of the Harbor Point peninsula. The Canal Corporation operates a canal maintenance facility on the southern and eastern sides of the harbor on property which is owned by New York State. On the other side of the Mohawk River, to the north and west of the peninsula are the Utica Marsh and three former dredged sediment disposal areas.
This website provides information on the Harbor Point site, the remediation projects and opportunities for public participation. National Grid is committed to the protection and enhancement of the environment, always seeking ways to minimize the environmental impacts of our past, present and future activities. We hope this website, a part of our public participation and outreach efforts, is helpful and informative. If you need additional information or have suggestions to make our website better, please contact the individuals listed under Contacts. For additional information about manufactured gas plants and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s MGP Program, please visit
http://www.dec.ny.gov/
chemical/8430.html.
National Grid will provide activity updates for neighbors of the Harbor Point former MGP site. The update will describe the work that has been done to implement the Remedial Action Plan, and provide an outlook for upcoming work, including information about any work that may impact normal community activities. The Report Archive section under the Key Documents tab of this website will include all of the Updates.
The work currently being undertaken at the Harbor Point site includes:
- Removal of purifier material: Approximately 30,000 cubic yards of purifier material, a waste from the former manufactured gas plant process, will be excavated from the Mohawk River shoreline and adjacent wetlands and placed in a monitored containment cell.
- Removal of coal tar and contaminated soil from the Mohawk Riverbank: Approximately 20,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil along the riverbank at the former Lee Street Extension Storm Sewer will be removed and disposed off-site.
- Design of the on-site thermal treatment system for contaminated soil (continuing through 2009)
- Design of the Utica Harbor sediment cap (continuing through 2009)
- Revision of the Mohawk River Feasibility Study.