A draft hazardous management permit renewal for Momentive Performance Materials (MPM) Silicones, LLC, is now available for public review and comment through Sep. 29, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) announced today.

MPM currently owns and operates a silicone manufacturing facility and hazardous wastes generated on-site are managed on an approximately 800-acre site in the towns of Waterford and Halfmoon in Saratoga County. The wastes are treated, stored and managed to comply with the company’s part 373 hazardous waste management permit.

The draft permit is a renewal of MPM’s existing permit, and if approved, would allow the company to continue to treat, store and manage hazardous waste at the facility. No significant changes to MPM’s hazardous waste management operations would be authorized by permit renewal; however, the draft does require MPM to provide $26 million in financial assurance and implement additional protective measures.

The draft permit includes a number of requirements intended to generally improve MPM’s overall waste generation and management practices, including improvements to secondary containment, fire protection and reduction in storage capacity. Working with the facility, DEC has developed supplemental spill reporting requirements which are also incorporated into the draft permit. In addition, a thorough investigation of nearby tributaries to the Hudson River is required to determine whether past discharges exceeding State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) limits resulted in any contamination to tributary sediments. If contamination is found, DEC will consider requiring remediation.

During the 60-day public comment period, written comments may be submitted to:

Marc Migliore

Regional Permit Administrator

NYSDEC Region 5 Warrensburg Sub-office

232 Golf Course Road Warrensburg, NY 12885

Email: Info.R5@dec.ny.gov

DEC will hold a public comment hearing on Oct. 8 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Waterford Town Hall located at 65 Broad St., Waterford on MPM’s draft renewal permit, which will provide an opportunity for people to give verbal comments. All feedback received will be considered by DEC, which will determine whether the permit will be revised, granted or denied.
 

Electronic copies of the draft permit, MPM’s application and other MPM reference documents are available at MPM’s website at http://momentivewaterford.com/. Hard copies of DEC’s fact sheet, draft permit and MPM’s applications are also available for public review at the following locations:

• DEC, Division of Environmental Remediation, 625 Broadway, 12^th Floor, Albany, NY 12233-7017 (contact person: Deborah Gardell at (518) 402-9814);
  

• DEC Region 5 Warrensburg Office, 232 Golf Course Road, Warrensburg, NY 12885 (contact person: Marc Migliore at (518) 623-1200); and,
  

• Waterford Public Library, 117 3^rd Street, Waterford, NY 12188.