Ballston Spa cleaners added to Superfund list

PHOTOGRAPHER: Erica Miller

former Rickett's Laundry and Dry Cleaners, on Route 50 in Ballston Spa.

BALLSTON SPA — A former dry cleaning business at the north end of Ballston Spa has been added to the state’s Superfund cleanup list as a “significant” threat to public health, the state Department of Environmental Conservation said on Wednesday.

The Rickett’s Dry Cleaners site on Doubleday Avenue is considered an “inactive hazardous waste disposal site” due to the presence of chemicals associated with dry cleaning that have leaked into soil and groundwater. The site also includes a former laundromat and self-service car wash.

The dry cleaning operation, which closed years ago, was contaminated with volatile organic compounds including tetrachloroethene, trichloroethene and their component chemicals, DEC said. “Actions are needed to define the nature and extent of contamination to allow for the identification, screening and evaluation of potential remedial actions,” DEC said.

The site’s designation means the state will seek a property cleanup, though it won’t carry the high priority it would if contamination was continuing from an existing business. A number of former dry cleaning businesses across the Capital Region are also on the state Superfund list for similar reasons.

DEC first identified Rickett’s as a potential pollution site in 2017, and that year the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency did air sampling in nearby buildings, which EPA officials said didn’t find high enough contamination levels to warrant action.