BY JEFF CHUDZINSKI
North Country This Week

MASSENA — The former General Motors Powertrain site may soon have new life, as the cleanup process is nearing completion.

The Revitalization Auto Communities Environmental Response, also known as RACER, has worked on the site for longer than a decade, after receiving the title to the property following GM’s 2009 bankruptcy.

Work began shortly thereafter, with the first phase encompassing the destruction and removal of the 890,000-square-foot plant.

Throughout the process, RACER officials have worked with numerous local administrations, state officials, the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, Environmental Protection Agency and DEC, among others.

Under the EPA’s Superfund program, the Massena site has seen a $155 million investment, according to Brendan Mullen, cleanup manager.

Mullen said the site has received roughly 25% of RACER’s total budget.

“This one right here in Massena is the jewel in the crown as far as I’m concerned. This site here at Massena got 25% of our overall budget. That is a testament to how significant the commitment Massena received in the bankruptcy settlement. It is our only federal Superfund site. It’s not the only federal Superfund site in the area, but it does require a lot of focus, a lot of effort and a lot of commitment in the form of money into the remediation. We’ve been working year-on-year. This is our 12th year. We’ve been spending a lot of money,” Mullen recently told the town board.

RACER is currently operating at over 60 sites in 14 different states currently, officials said.

One major aspect remaining in the cleanup project is water remediation, with all soil remediation completed, in theory.

“We’ve done the remediation in phases. At this point, the remediation is complete from the point of view of any soil. So, we’ve made it that much cleaner. Unfortunately, we’ve moved that elsewhere. We’ve made Indiana bigger, but we’ve made New York a little bit smaller, but a little bit cleaner,” Mullen said.

In total, more than 550,000 tons of toxic waste has been removed from the site, according to Mullen.

The next phase of the project includes groundwater recovery and treatment in accordance with state permits and requirements for the cleanup.

Local contractors have been used throughout the process, with more expected to assist in the final phase as well, Mullen said.

The next steps for the project will now encompass active marketing of the site for sale and redevelopment, according to officials.

“Our mission is to clean them up and then reposition them for redevelopment and job creation and economic development. We clean them up to industrial standards,” according to Patricia Spitzley.

Spitzley also stressed that the trust which currently owns the property has invested significant time and money that must be paid out in the end. A future buyer will end up paying what is deemed fair market value, one of the six criteria that has been set forth.

“One of the things that is important to us is that we look for fair market value when we are selling a piece of property. Our trustee says that we’re a trust. We’re not a charitable trust, and so it is important for us and we have a fiduciary responsibility to maximize the value and get the maximum out of our property,” she said.

Another criteria that the trust will consider is how many jobs will be created, with job creation and retention being a huge caveat for a potential buyer and developer.

“We look at the reputation of the buyer who’s interested in the property. We do extensive background checks. We find out that people have had tickets in Florida for fishing license violations. That’s how deep we go because it is important to us to make sure that whoever is purchasing the property is reputable and they’re going to do what they say they’re going to do,” Spitzley said.

Of the six criteria, one of the most important is the wishes of town officials and residents. If a buyer’s plans do not match what residents want, a deal won’t be completed, according to Spitzley.

“We look to you and we consult with you on what your economic development vision is for not only your community, but what would you like to see at the site. We take that input and we put together marketing materials and we market the product. We go to a number of different places. We market very heavily in Canada where we go to a lot of different opportunities to market the property,” Spitzley said.

Marketing efforts are now in full swing, with RACER officials saying that site cleanup is “now essentially done”, bringing an end to a 12-year project.