Siting Plan hearing

DEC hears it again at Lew-Port

Story and photo by Terry Duffy
Lewiston Porter Sentinel, November 21, 2009

Wednesday in Niagara Falls might have been low-key, but Thursday night’s Siting Plan session at Lewiston-Porter High School was anything but.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation held two local public hearings this week on the merits of its Re-draft Hazardous Waste Facility Siting Plan and Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement. Revised a number of times over past decades the plan, once final, will dictate how New York will determine the placement and permitting of hazardous waste operating facilities well into the future.

As reported in both the Nov. 7 and 14 Sentinels, DEC’s equitable geographic distribution criteria in the Siting Plan, which many believe lends argument towards continued hazardous waste landfilling in Niagara County, has been roundly criticized. Local environmentalists and government officials are in sharp disagreement to the plan’s determinations of equitable distribution of facilities in the state, arguing DEC incorrectly redefined areas, grouped types of facilities, misrepresented their purposes, their volumes of activity and overall skewed the numbers.

The plan has major implications for the future of Waste Management CWM Chemical Services LLC facility in Porter. The company has applications moving with DEC for landfill expansion and continued haz-waste operations. As such the atmosphere was contentious Thursday at Lew-Port.

That session saw dozens of CWM employees on hand in support of a handful of speakers who backed the plan, the majority of them representing trade unions, CWM vendors or both. Also in attendance were well over 100 area residents decidedly against various elements of the Siting Plan – namely DEC’s determinations regarding the equitable geographic distribution of hazardous waste storage facilities in the state. At times during the session, the cheers and jeers from each group that followed their respective speakers proved disruptive to the DEC panel members, who asked them to stop.

For the most part, negative criticisms predominated over the course of the more than three-hour session, which saw nearly two-dozen speakers appearing before DEC’s John Iannotti and attending reps to vent their views.

Spokesman Daniel Cyzek of U.S. Rep. Louise Slaughter’s office led off with concerns by the congresswoman that the plan “disproportionately burdens and discriminates the area,” and has negative impacts on the Lake Ontario watershed and the Buffalo-Niagara economy.

State officials, including Assemblywoman Francine DelMonte, D-138th District, Lewiston, and Sen. George Maziarz, R-62nd District, Newfane, represented by spokesman Jim Ward, likewise hit on the equitable distribution criteria. DelMonte charged that Lewiston “receives more waste in one year than the rest of the state combined,” while the Maziarz statement charged, “DEC has produced another fatally flawed plan” for CWM.

“No equity, no approval,” voiced newly-appointed Village of Lewiston Mayor Bill Geiben, who asked DEC for clarity, and argued that equitable geographic distribution must be addressed before a plan is finalized.

County Legislator John Ceretto spoke of county efforts to safeguard area waterways and brought up the unattractive elements of haz-waste operations, recalling an incident where a CWM waste truck leaked contaminants along the roadway, affecting passersby, which he termed “horrific.”

Lewiston Town Supervisor Fred Newlin, who spoke later, said he was “infuriated on DEC’s lack of focus” in the plan and said Niagara County could be “DEC’s poster child” when it comes to inequitable distribution. Raising issue with the area’s saturation of waste operations and its legacy from the Lake Ontario Ordnance Works site, Newlin urged Gov. David Paterson to apply the principles of equitable distribution fairly.

As mentioned, speakers also were on hand in support of CWM’s continued operations. CWM employee Chuck Oggy spoke for the dozens of CWM co-workers attending. He asked them to stand in support, telling the panel, “I implore DEC to think of CWM employees when they consider what goes into the plan.”

Robert Connelley, representing 500 members of Local 91, many who have done work for CWM, said the future welfare of union workers is affected by the plan’s final outcome. “Niagara cannot afford to lose this business or these jobs,” he said.

George Harrigan, representing Teamsters Local 449, commended CWM for “providing good jobs and contributing $14 million to the area economy. The site is an asset to New York state.”

And there were others, such as Paul McCollum of Operating Engineers Local 463, which is involved in actual construction of landfills, including those at CWM. McCollum called CWM “a safe, in-state facility” for disposal, and noted its positive impact on employment, vendors and the economy. And speaker Ron Craft, a retiree with 27 years of experience in the chemical industry, called the need for CWM’s existence “a result of today’s advanced technologies.” He argued the company was safe, was a tax contributor, job creator and benefited the economy. Craft closed by suggesting CWM, like the AES Somerset plant take on greater support for area school systems and lower school taxes, as is the case with AES in the Barker School District.

But again, for the most part, it was the repeated criticisms to DEC over the equitable geographic distribution flaws that prevailed. Speaker after speaker offered negative comments, including: Dr. R. Nils Olsen, RRG attorney and UB law professor and longtime advocate, who called DEC’s plan “impractical”; numerous student attorneys representing the UB Environmental Policy/Law Clinic, who chastised DEC for taking “an apples to oranges” approach; Amy Witryol of the Niagara Health Science Report, who scolded DEC, saying the main issue wasn’t CWM’s employees, but the “unintended dangers posed” by CWM operations and DEC’s continued sanctioning of it; and Youngstown resident Tom Johnson, formerly a Town of Cheektowaga councilman who dealt with environmental troubles in that town, who told DEC he felt like he jumped “from the frying pan into the fire” by moving to northern Niagara and encountering this.

And there were plenty of others who vented to DEC for what they viewed as yet another “back of the hand” by the agency at Niagara County.

Perhaps the most profound was a rather simple statement very late in the session from Porter Center Road resident Sean Kelly, who appeared at the microphone holding his young daughter, who was playing in his arms. Kelly, a new resident, spoke of his love for the area and its simple beauty. He told DEC officials “there are things which are not negotiable.” When decisions are made, “little people are indispensable.” And such issues as “clean air, clean water are non-negotiable,” he said as called on DEC to act in the area’s interest, much to the applause of the few remaining attendees.