A federal trust fund would pay about $150 million to clean up and redevelop closed General Motors plants in Salina and Massena under a federal bankruptcy proposal to settle liabilities for the old GM. The money would come from a larger $800 million federal trust fund the Obama administration proposed this week to revitalize 90 former GM plant sites...
View full sizeLey Creek from the former GM Circle to Onondaga Lake will be cleaned up with a federal trust fund proposed this week for the environmental revitalization of GM plants sites in the wake of the company’s bankruptcy last year. Sources briefed on the plan say it included $150 million for this site in Salina and another in Massena.
A federal trust fund would pay about $150 million to clean up and redevelop closed General Motors plants in Salina and Massena under a federal bankruptcy proposal to settle liabilities for the old GM.
The money would come from a larger $800 million federal trust fund the Obama administration proposed this week to revitalize 90 former GM plant sites in 14 states. The proposal must be approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
No specific details were released for the New York sites, but two federal sources briefed about the plan said it includes $150 million for the old GM Inland Fisher Guide Plant in Salina and closed GM Powertrain plant in Massena.
They said they did not know how much of the $150 million was for the Salina plant and surrounding property.
The $150 million appears to be short of what state officials are seeking from the bankrupt company. New York filed about $200 million in environmental claims with the Motors Liquidation Company, the company left over from the General Motors bankruptcy, according to a search of the company’s claims database. State and Motors Liquidation Company officials did not respond to requests for comment.
U.S. Rep. Dan Maffei is among those trying to find out if the settlement would be enough to pay for the local cleanup effort.
“Congressman Maffei has some real concerns if the settlement is not adequate to fund the liabilities,” Michael Whyland, Maffei’s chief of staff said Thursday. “But we just don’t have all the information yet.”
The Salina plant, which manufactured plastic car parts, closed in 1993, eliminating 1,300 jobs.
Since then, the 800,000-square-foot plant has been partially redeveloped into the Salina Industrial Powerpark. Sixteen light industrial and warehouse tenants occupy about 65 percent of the space and provide about 550 jobs.
The cleanup and redevelopment money would pay for the removal of toxic waste, including heavy metals and PCBs, left behind in soil at the Salina plant and along portions of Ley Creek. The creek runs along the former GM plant site and empties into Onondaga Lake.
State environmental officials said ongoing cleanup work and related environmental investigations paid for by GM since 1993 have been delayed since the automaker declared bankruptcy last year.
Ken Lynch, regional director of the state Department of Environmental Conservation in Syracuse, said the trust fund is good news that could help put the cleanup of the Salina plant and Ley Creek back on track.
“There is still significant investigation and remediation work needed for the GM plant site and related offsite contamination,” Lynch said Thursday. He said he did not know how much the work would cost.
The money for the trust fund would come from $1.2 billion provided by the Treasury Department to wind down the bad assets of GM set aside in its bankruptcy case.
When fully implemented, the trust fund will represent the largest environmental and economic development effort for former manufacturing sites in the nation’s history, White House officials said this week.
Of the $800 million trust fund, $536 million would be spent on the environmental cleanup of the former GM plants and surrounding property, according to the White House Council on Auto Communities and Workers.
The remaining money would assist state and local governments with property taxes, demolition and redevelopment costs, the White House officials said.
About half of the former GM sites covered by the proposed agreement are in Michigan, White House officials said.
John Clark, president of Pyramid Brokerage, the DeWitt company that handles leasing at the Salina Industrial Powerpark, said any redevelopment money could help prepare the empty portion of the old GM factory for new tenants.
“That’s great news,” Clark said. “There’s constant maintenance, roof work and mechanical work that has to be done there.”
Among the existing tenants is Bitzer Scroll Inc., a German company that makes air conditioning and refrigeration compressors. The company wants to continue expanding and create more than 200 jobs at the local plant.
State officials said it was not immediately clear whether the money set aside for New York would be enough to pay for GM’s environmental liabilities in the state.
Both GM’s Ley Creek and Massena sites are considered federal priorities for cleanup because they are on the federal Superfund list of toxic waste sites. Portions of Ley Creek are part of the larger Onondaga Lake federal Superfund site.
Lynch, of the DEC, said the agency “needs to fully evaluate the proposed funding for cleanup” and make sure “there are sufficient funds available to be able to fully remediate these sites and put them back into beneficial use for the communities.”
Obama administration officials said they plan to work with states to finalize the cleanup plans. The framework must be approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.
The federal government owns 61 percent of the new General Motors after the government invested $50 billion to help it through the bankruptcy. The loan portion of that $50 billion was $7 billion, which GM has repaid.
Contact Mark Weiner at mweiner@syracuse.com or 571-970-3751.