Proposed bills target Great Lakes water quality

by Terry Duffy
Lewiston Porter Sentinel, June 10, 2006

The intensity appears to be building among local residents, government officials, as well as the area’s legislators in Albany for responsive state action to address continuing water quality concerns affecting the Great Lakes – namely Lake Ontario – stemming from the nearby hazardous waste operations of CWM Chemical Services in Porter.

A decades-long-standing issue in northwestern Niagara County, many over the years have echoed concerns that Chemical Waste Management’s active hazardous waste operations, which include significant PCB remediation and storage -- among other activities – has and continues to bear a major impact on the water quality of Lake Ontario, which serves the primary drinking and recreational water needs of 7 million-plus southern Ontario residents in the Golden Horseshoe area and for several hundreds of thousands of residents in the northern reaches of Western and Central New York.

Further compounding concerns locally, with respect to nearby Lake Ontario water quality, remains the annual permitted discharge of 21 to 25 million gallons of treated wastewater from operations on the CWM Balmer Road facility into the lower Niagara River at Youngstown by the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

In recent months, attention has been redirected in various local governmental bodies towards the 1978 Great Lakes Agreement, a treaty between the United States and Canada, which specifies that, “Consistent with the provisions of this Agreement, it is the policy of the parties that: the discharge of toxic substances in toxic amounts be prohibited and the discharge of any or all persistent toxic substances be virtually eliminated.” The treaty also directs that zero discharges of PCBs be permitted in Great Lakes waterways.

In past months, this measure has been presented to various local governmental boards and Niagara County Legislation by Lewiston area environmentalist Amy Witryol of the Niagara Health Science Project Inc. for consideration and supportive resolutions. In April, it was adopted by the Niagara County Legislature, which added language targeting new or pending applications for placement of disposal facilities in the county. And it has been presented for consideration and approved with similar supportive language by the Lewiston Town Board, the Village of Lewiston Board of Trustees and the Village of Youngstown Board of Trustees. It remains a discussion item with the Porter Town Board.

This measure has now gained further attention with separate but similar legislation proposed on June 5 at the state level in the form of S8107, filed by state Sen. George Maziarz, R-62nd District, Newfane, and A11713, by Assemblywoman Francine DelMonte, D-138th District, Lewiston.

In working to reignite state attention on this issue, Witryol stated that, “Neither the community, nor elected officials in Albany, knew until recently that Chemical Waste in Niagara County has land filled more PCBs in just one year than GE dumped in the Hudson River over a period of 30 years. And the amount of PCBs the EPA is targeting for removal from the Hudson is a fraction of what CWM buries in Niagara County every single year.”

Both the Maziarz and DelMonte bills, like the aforementioned approved resolutions by the localities, contain specific language targeting new or pending applications for placement of hazardous waste facilities near Great Lakes waters. Specifically, their bills add, “… Notwithstanding any other provision of this Title, no new or pending application for a disposal facility subject to Section 27-1105 of this Title shall be sited in allocation with potential to discharge to the Great Lakes system, as that term is defined in Title 33 of the United States Code.”

Commenting on her bill, DelMonte was upbeat on its chances. “My bill was submitted on Monday. It’s very new and filed in the remaining days of the Assembly,” she said, pointing out it’s similar to a bill which cleared the Assembly last year, but now with tougher language added targeting Great Lakes water quality concerns.

“It has to wind its way through the process,” DelMonte said, adding it will be going to the Assembly’s Environmental Conservation Committee, where it will be subject to further review.

On its chances of being approved before the June 22 wrap-up of the current session, DelMonte said, “It could be. There has been a lot of discussion. I’m hopeful of its passage.”

Maziarz, who like DelMonte has come out strongly on the need to safeguard the area’s environment, said the measure is needed, noting the potential for harm to the environment. “Unlike other facilities that manage hazardous wastes near the Great Lakes, hazardous waste landfills accumulate large volumes of waste intended to be stored permanently, posing a risk that cannot be ‘shut-off’ in the event of a problem.

“This amendment will prohibit the addition of new facilities that would collect persistent toxic waste from across the U.S. for permanent burial in New York’s Great Lakes system,” said Maziarz.

Meanwhile the northern Niagara County environmental watchdog group, Residents for Responsible Government, has come out in strong support for the measures and urges area residents to jump on board. “I think it’s great that Francine and George support this legislation,” said Vince Agnello, RRG president. “It’s wise to protect the Great Lakes as they are primary source for our drinking water.”

Agnello closed with hopes that the matter could be addressed by Albany in coming weeks, and urged area residents to voice their support on the measure to state officials.

He invited residents with further questions to contact RRG at 791-4562 or online at rrg-wny.org,

Witryol ended with cautious optimism on the final outcome of the two bills. “If the legislation is successful, CWM will have to demonstrate that it does not have the potential to discharge into the Great Lakes system. If unable to do so, the effect would be to sunset CWM land-filling activity in about five years when present capacity is reached.”

When contacted last week on this issue, CWM District Manager Dick Sturges stated that the company maintains a successful track records on the PCB discharges into the lower Niagara and Lake Ontario. “Our facility, for 20 years, has complied with the discharge requirements by the regulatory agencies,” he said, adding that it’s backed up by repeated water quality testing.

Sturges said a true indication of water quality is that sample tests of CWM wastewater discharges have exceeded that of the water quality currently found in the lower Niagara. “Further, there has been no detection of PCBs in surface water runoff in 2005,” he said, pointing out that PCB detections are down significantly from readings in past years.

“It’s ironic that this legislation has been proposed when CWM continues to comply with the regulations,” Sturges said. “We’ve done some great success stories and have much to talk about.”