Broome Asbestos Crisis: Dangerous Debris Continues to Pile Up

The problem of demolition debris containing hazardous asbestos in Broome County continues to grow with no end in sight.

The county landfill will not accept asbestos from commercial entities until further notice. The asbestos ban has been in place for several months and could remain in effect for another year.

Tons of debris filled with asbestos are being held at the site of Sunday's apartment house fire on Cherry Street in Johnson City.

LCP Group of Vestal quickly tore down what was left of the large three-story structure the day after the blaze.

Under normal circumstances, the company would have promptly hauled away the debris from the site. Two multi-unit apartment buildings are located just feet from the site.

For now, piles of debris sit covered with signs warning of asbestos, along with the "cancer and lung disease hazard" associated with the material.

Johnson City Mayor Christina Charuk said she expressed her concerns about how the fire-related debris to County Executive Jason Garnar. He indicated the landfill won't be able to accept the material.

Charuk said village officials are working with state agencies, including the Department of Environmental Conservation to determine where the material can be taken.

The hazardous debris may have to be hauled to the Seneca Meadows or Ontario County landfills. It would take about three hours to transport the material to those sites.

While the Broome County landfill won't accept asbestos, huge piles of covered demolition debris remain stored on the Huron Campus at the IBM-Endicott demolition site.

Gorick Construction finished tearing down five unused IBM buildings last August. The 10-acre site at North Street and McKinley Avenue cannot be cleared until the debris cannot be hauled away.

Trucking the large amount of material outside Broome County would be very costly.

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Contact WNBF News reporter Bob Joseph: bob@wnbf.com or call (607) 545-2250. For breaking news and updates on developing stories, follow @BinghamtonNow on Twitter.