A recently signed agreement by the Department of Environmental Protection, Greenville Reynolds Development Corporation and Marcegaglia-USA, Inc. will allow the redevelopment of the 32-acre contaminated property in Pymatuning Township, Mercer County, to move forward.
The Buyer/Seller Agreement addresses the joint cleanup by GRDC and Marcegaglia through Pennsylvania’s Land Recycling (Act 2) process. Under the agreement signed June 9, Marcegaglia transferred the property to GRDC at a discounted price as a public benefit.
Marcegaglia will also pay $50,158.87 to the Hazardous Sites Cleanup fund as settlement to cover the DEP’s investigation expenses on the property.
The former Damascus Tube facility is now owned by GRDC. GRDC plans to demolish most of the existing buildings on the property and clean-up the contaminated soils.
After approval of the cleanup by DEP, GRDC plans to redevelop the property for industrial use.
Damascus Tube closed its doors in 2002. Since that time the property has been mostly unused.
“The clean-up process and agreement includes a thorough evaluation of the property and is a welcomed outcome for the local community,” DEP Northwest Regional Director Jim Miller said. “We applaud the use of public/private initiatives such as this, that utilize many of the tools the DEP has in place to get contaminated and inactive properties back to reuse,” Miller further stated.
Pennsylvania’s award-winning Land Recycling Program is a national model for the redevelopment of contaminated properties or brownfields.
It creates a realistic framework for setting cleanup standards, provides special incentives for developing abandoned sites, releases responsible parties from liability when cleanup standards are met, sets deadlines for DEP action and provides funding for environmental studies and cleanups.
To learn more about the program, visit DEP’s Land Recycling Program webpage.
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