RAB elections announced

The Lake Ontario Ordnance Works Restoration Advisory Board, which recently announced its continuation as a group following formation of the Niagara LOOW Action Council (Sentinel, Aug. 6), reports it is holding elections through Aug. 31 on the following nominations to its steering committee:

•Beverly Van Deusen, for the Village of Youngstown.

•Alphonso Marra Bax for the Town of Lewiston.

•Timothy Henderson.

•Sandy Sanger Tuck.

•Thomas E. Schofield, Esq.

•Ann Roberts, former RAB chair.

•Joan E. Gipp, emeritus.

"We are fortunate to have diverse skills and great community representation on the RAB" said Membership Chair Bill Choboy. "In addition, we are very pleased that Ronald J. Scrudato, Ph.D., has agreed to act as a technical advisor to the RAB. His credentials and extensive experience working with Army Corps Restoration Advisory Boards will be helpful to the community."

Scrudato is the former director of Environmental Research at the State University of New York at Oswego and has served on the New York Superfund Management Board and Great Lakes Protection Fund. He has more than 30 years of experience with environmental site characterization and remediation. A geologist, Scrudato recently completed a New York state DEC technical assistance grant for Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper regarding the former Air Force Plant 68, located on the LOOW site. Scrudato was also a contributor to the Niagara County Health Department's "Community LOOW Project" in 2008.

The RAB's mission is to influence the investigation and promote the satisfactory remediation of the entire LOOW site, including all publicly and privately owned parcels. Convened in 1999, the RAB is a forum for the public and all stakeholders for the exchange of information as well as open and independent dialogue concerning Army Corps of Engineers environmental investigations and remediation activities at the LOOW site.

The LOOW site consists of approximately 7,500 acres of publicly and privately owned parcels located in the Towns of Lewiston and Porter that were once owned by the federal government and used for military weapons production-related operations started during World War II. It includes the 191-acre Niagara Falls Storage Site, which still houses radioactive waste material from atomic weapons production in the 1940s and 1950s.

Choboy reports the public is welcome to join the RAB. Membership requests can be sent to Choboy at: [email protected] or call 745-7790.