The former New York Ordnance Works (NYOW) facility is located in Onondaga County, New York, near the Finger Lakes, about one-mile northeast of the town of Baldwinsville and approximately 13 miles north of Syracuse, New York.  The facility was designed to manufacture 60,000 pounds of ammonium picrate per day, seven days a week near the end of World War II. Ammonium picrate, also known as Dunnite or “Explosive D”, is an explosive compound used in the production of armor piercing shells.                                                                                                                                                                              

The federal government acquired the 6,795-acre property and completed construction of the facility in May 1943. The facility consisted of an Administration area, Ammonium Picrate area, Acid area, Landfill area, Bunker area and a Power Plant area. It encompassed approximately 2,100 acres of the property with the remainder as farmland. The National Aniline Defense Corporation, a Division of Allied Chemical and Dye Corporation, operated the facility under supervision of the Chief of Ordnance of the War Department. The facility shut down and manufacturing operations ceased in less than a year in March 1944. 

Chemicals used or produced on-site during operations included dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB), 2,4-dinitrophenol (2,4-DNP), picric acid (2,4,6-trinitrophenol), sulfuric acid, nitric acid, sodium hydroxide, aqueous ammonia, and ammonium picrate. There are no documented spills in the historical records for the site. However, in an abundance of caution, the site will be assessed under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980 to confirm that no contaminants spilled or leaked onto the ground from processes and equipment during the ammonium picrate operations.

The most comprehensive environmental investigations conducted at the former NYOW were completed in 1981 and 1989. The investigations detected some constituents, such as chromium, lead, arsenic, semi-volatile organic compounds and explosives in soil and groundwater. The data collected during these investigations is insufficient to assess risk due to its age and sampling distribution. Based on historical information and previous environmental investigations, four AOCs have been identified for future groundwater and soil investigations. They are AOC 1 - Former Ammonium Picrate area, AOC 3 - Former Landfill area, AOC 4 - Former Bunker area, and AOC 5 - Former Power Plant area.