Much public concern has focused, understandably, on what went up in the air during the 14-18 hours that TCI’s building was consumed by fire. But several readers have asked the smart question: What’s on the ground? And: What is being done to prevent any runoff of spills, residues, waters and other remaining materials on the TCI site?
Last night, Columbia County was drenched with moderate to heavy rains, depending on where one lives. Unhindered by berms, dikes or other earthworks, those rains could potentially have begun washing some of the remains of the fire into groundwater, aquifers or nearby creeks.
Aerial photos and video show what appear to be large semicircular, bluish-black pools surrounding the TCI plant’s remains. While these appear to be liquid, they could be char marks, ash or other debris left over from the fire. The image above is an enhanced version of a widely-circulated Lance Wheeler photo (picked up by the Associated Press). This site has desaturated the plant and its surroundings to better highlight the unusual pools or charring around the building. What are these pools. Below is another view of some of that pooling or charring, again enhanced from a still image from a Lance Wheeler aerial video:
It was not possible to get close enough today to the site to see whether the company or State has erected any berms, dikes or other barriers to prevent potentially hazardous or toxic runoff from escaping. A TCI site, and numerous other cars, currently is parked on Falls Industrial Park Road off Route 9H, with various workers milling around. No State or Federal vehicles were seen parked, entering or leaving the site, but that does not mean they are not there, closer to the incinerated building.
Below is a map generated by the DEC’s Enviromapper software. The green areas are wetlands; the checked areas are buffer areas around those wetlands. One notes that the Widow’s Creek also runs very close by the TCI facility. The only small blessing would appear to be that the terrain in the area is relatively flat. Below the map is a Bing aerial shot from the west, showing how the Creek wraps around the plant:
