The Gillette Corporation, owner of the Duracell company, is working closely with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Village of Sleepy Hollow to test and eventually clean contaminated soils around the former battery plant that existed at the corner of Elm Street and Andrews Lane in Sleepy Hollow. 

The contamination problems are the result of mercuric oxide batteries that were produced between 1945 and 1974 at the former P.R. Mallory battery plant. Large exhaust fans from the  plant spread the hazardous by-products of battery production mainly to properties located to the south and east.

The plant was bought by Duracell, which closed the facility in 1984 citing the high cost of taxes, fuel and upkeep.

A cleanup of the site and eight adjacent properties took place between 1988 and 1993. The site was declared satisfactory by the NYS DEC in 1994. What remains of the plant is now covered by a village-maintained parking lot. 

In 2003, the village of Sleepy Hollow bought the site from the Gillette corporation for  $1, and in return indemnified the company from future lawsuits arising from the condition of the site and nearby properties. 

However, the NYS DEC established new guidelines on the allowable levels of lead and mercury in soils last year. They set a threshold of 1.2 parts per million for inorganic mercury and 400 ppm for lead in residential soils, which means that areas there were formerly "clean" are no longer are clean by the state's own standards.

The DEC maintains that contaminant concentrations that are slightly higher than the established guidelines do not necessarily constitute a health hazard. However, there is a concern that prolonged exposure to heavy metals may increase health-related problems.

Duracell, and their parent corporation, Gillette, have said they would continue to test and eventually clean properties that are contaminated.

We posed our reader's questions to Kurt Iverson of Duracell, who is handling questions relating to the former site, ongoing testing and future cleanup. 

Can you explain how this process will work with a private company and the NYS DEC?

This is a project that is overseen by the DEC, so we submit all of our information to them and they give us approval on our agreed testing plan and any remediation. 

What is the extent of the testing? Can people still get their properties tested?

We've done a lot of that testing. We have 140 agreements from the neighborhood there and we've taken more than 2,000 samples. We are still determining a plan, we're just doing the testing now. The majority of it (testing) is done, but there is probably still some work to be completed, that progresses with the cooperation of the community. 

Which properties have you tested, have you tested the nearby parks?

We can't talk about specific properties, but each home gets the full report.

Note: Sleepy Hollow Village Administrator Anthony Giaccio said that the Sleepy Hollow Senior Center, Elm Street parking lot, Barnhart Park and the Sleepy Hollow Ambulance Corps building have all been tested. Maureen Wren, a spokesperson with the DEC, is seeing which results, if any yet, can be made available to Patch. 

How polluted is the site? 

The results are pretty much you would expect (referring to levels slightly above the current standards). Of course the number has changed for what the goal of cleanup is.

Last board meeting, representatives asked for a base of operations at the Elm Street parking lot. What will go on there? 

Well it is just a staging area for once remediation begins, a place to park trucks and the things that will do the work. They'll be moving around the neighborhood from there. 

How long will they be on site? 

It is too early to say. 

What kind of remediation work is done in these cases? Removing soil and back-filling, or ripping up concrete? 

It's just like you described it, in many ways its kind of a gardening – we'll take the top soil up and if there are shrubs or trees to be taken out then we will replace them. 

Does Duracell have any concerns that pollutants may have got into the nearby Pocantico River? 

No not really. These are not liquid things we are looking at, they are very much the consistency of dirt.

Why is Gillette interested in cleaning the site? 

We signed an agreement with the DEC and we are bound by that. We've given the land to the village, but the responsibility relies with who was operating there.

Who will be paying for the cleanup? There has been talk that the village may get the bill.

Duracell is paying for it at the moment. We don't know what is going to be done, we haven't really talked about it. Our goal is to clean it up and do the best job we can. To speculate on what is going to happen is hard to do, it's not a question we can really answer at this point. 

Note: Village Attorney Janet Gandolfo said the issue of who would be paying for the cleanup is still being hammered out by lawyers and that no solid numbers on how much the cleanup will cost has been determined. 

How would you gauge the reaction and participation of local residents?

We have appreciated all the cooperation thus far, and we're continuing to work with the DEC and the Department of Health and the village. We have a group that does remedial work set up and we are keeping in contact with land owners. 

How can people get in touch to have their property checked? 

If someone wants to get in touch with us, they can. 

You can visit the website for the project (though not much information is there) at, formermallorybatteryfactory.com

emails can be sent to: info@formermallorybatteryfactory.com

All phone inquiries can be directed to: 877-410-8412