Bombs In Your Backyard: 4 Hazardous Hudson Valley DOD Sites

In New York there are 185 properties or installations currently or formerly owned by the Department of Defense that have at least one hazardous site. In the Hudson Valley alone, four of those properties have at least one high or medium risk hazardous site, according to data released from the DOD that was acquired and published by ProPublica.

Some of them have historic significance.

According to ProPublica, which has been documenting toxic pollution left behind by the military across the country, there are more than 40,000 such hazardous sites polluted by U.S. military operations.

Through its reporting, ProPublica found that many of these sites have extensive groundwater and soil pollution or present a risk of exploding bombs and munitions. Some of these sites are part of old facilities that may not be known locally even though a risk of exposure to contaminants may still be present. ProPublica also notes that contamination could affect an area much larger than the site itself.

In New York state, there are 185 military installations with hazardous sites; 32 are classified high- or medium risk by ProPublica.

Installations With the Most High and Medium Risk Sites in New York

• WEST POINT MIL RESERVATION - 14
• JFHQ NY ARNG - 8
• CP HERO - 3
• SUFFOLK COUNTY AFB - 3
• IONA ISLAND NAVAL AMMUNITION DEPOT - 2
• FT TILDEN - 2
• FLOYD BENNETT FLD - 1
• SAMPSON AFB - 1
• HANCOCK ANG - 1
• SENECA ARMY DEPOT ACTIVITY - 1

In the Hudson Valley, installations with at least one high- or medium-risk site:

• West Point Military Reservation
• Stewart Air Force Base
• Cold Spring Foundry
• Fort Slocum

ProPublica explains in its methodology that it classified entire installations as high risk even if it contained one high risk site. A site is either assigned a relative risk of high, medium or low or a priority level of 1 through 8. ProPublica simplified that into one risk level and confirmed their assessment with the DOD.

Some of the hazardous DOD sites are marked as “response complete,” meaning the DOD cleanup actions are complete but that doesn’t mean there is no longer a hazard. According to ProPublica, this may mean sites are simply fenced off to the public or the DOD determined no cleanup was required by law.

The ProPublica report locates the "Cold Spring Foundry" in both Orange County and Putnam County.

Identified on ProPublica's map is the foundry site in Cold Spring, part of which is on the National Register of Historic Places. According to Scenic Hudson, which maintains trails and features that "tell the story of the 87-acre site's contributions to America's Industrial Revolution and the Civil War, as well as the cleanup leading to its astonishing ecological renewal." Scenic Hudson offers an audiovisual tour of West Point Foundry Preserve; visit http://www.foundrytour.org/