Delavan Grider
The American Axle site located in Buffalo’s east side Delavan Grider community is ground zero for contamination. State records confirmed that the site contains hazardous oil, grease and PCBs that have leached into the surrounding sewer system. PCBs are known to cause cancer as well as a variety of adverse health effects. 
In 2015, Clean Air joined the resident-based American Axle Steering Committee to organize to stop the toxic runoff and remediate legacy waste.
In 2017, we won the release of $2.8 million from the NYS Superfund Program to fund remediation on a portion of the site. Advocating for an expeditious process, we met numerous times with the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC); members conducted bi-weekly calls with agency staff; and we held two events with local press. In the summer of 2018, the bold and uncompromising work of the Steering Committee came to fruition. The DEC committed to construct a pump and treat system to remove the contamination leaking into the sewer, and site owner, Jon Williams applied for NYS Brownfield credits to remediate a larger portion of the site. The pump and treat system is set to start in the Spring of 2019. Stay tuned to our blog for more updates, and sign up to join this team by clicking here.