Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Ridgewood Auto Body Shop Designated Superfund Site, But Not The School Next Door
By
Lauren Evans
Published Dec 11, 2013
Modified Dec 11, 2013
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Lauren Evans
Published Dec 11, 2013
Modified Dec 11, 2013
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
New York City is one step closer to earning its third Superfund site—a radioactive auto body shop shining bright like a cancer-causing diamond in Ridgewood, Queens.
As we noted previously, the site, officially 1125-1139 Irving Avenue, is the location of the former Wolff-Alport Chemical Company, which sold thorium to the government for use on the Manhattan Project and the Atomic Energy Commission until the 1950s. Today, the EPA officially proposed adding the site to the federal Superfund list, which would raise the total of the state's sites to 87. According to Judith Enck, a regional administrator with the EPA, Wolff-Alport's handling of rare earth metals produced an excess of thorium, which can increase the risk of cancer.
Until recently, the threat was considered sufficiently low-level that no decontamination steps were taken. But regulations change, and now, on second thought, the government has decided that radiation levels are significant enough that “workers at the auto body shop and pedestrians who frequently use the sidewalks at this location may have an elevated risk of cancer.”
A 2009 Health Department survey found that radiation in front of buildings on the site—which include an auto body shop, an ice making facility, a construction company and, chillingly, a deli, to be 75 times higher than what’s found on the average city block. EPA tests found "no immediate threat to neighborhood residents or employees, or customers of the businesses in the effected—with the exception of the Primo Auto Body Shop" Enck said.
And then there's I.S. 384, a public school and daycare center situated just 900 feet from the site. It's also been tested for radiation, though so far, results show it to be "below action levels." Just in case, though, the EPA took initial steps to thwart the radioactive gas apparently seeping from a hole in an unoccupied basement storage area—Enck said the hole was filled with concrete, which should have done the trick. Though the school will not be considered part of the Superfund site, it will be included in future investigations.
“We would not say that there is a health risk today for students or staff," she said, adding that there is "no reason to believe that anybody was ever exposed at a level of concern.” And anyway, isn't "contamination exposure" just another way of saying "character building"?
The proposal will now be open to public comment for 60 days, with the deadline for submitting comments to the agency landing in mid-February. Enck said the odds of the Wolff-Alport site being designated as a Superfund are "very likely," and that the next steps will be to dig down into the ground to assess the contamination before establishing a clean-up plan. So far, she said, the ultimate cost of the project and timeline for cleanups is unclear, though if we know anything about Superfund sites, it could be awhile. In the meantime, auto body workers, just, uh...try not to breathe so much.
Tagged
contamination
radiation
ridgewood
superfund
superfund site
Wolff-Alport Chemical Company
Lauren Evans
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Tompkins Square Park is getting a makeover. Some say it's too much.
Some regulars at the East Village park want to preserve its not-so-fancy offerings.
By
Willow Higgins
Published Oct 17, 2026 at 7:00 a.m. ET
Deer are all over New Jersey roads looking for sex, state officials warn
Mid-October through mid-December is deer mating season, which can be a danger to drivers as the sex-seeking creatures cross roadways throughout the Garden State.
By
Rosemary Misdary
News
Deer are all over New Jersey roads looking for sex, state officials warn
Mid-October through mid-December is deer mating season, which can be a danger to drivers as the sex-seeking creatures cross roadways throughout the Garden State.
By
Rosemary Misdary
Man messaged 'I got straight poison' before giving NYC college students fentanyl, feds say
By
Samantha Max
Inside the plan to fix the nearly collapsed Pfizer Building, 1/64th of an inch at a time
By
David Brand
School bus carrying autistic students got lost in Brooklyn for 4 hours last year
By
Jessica Gould
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .