Sessions set to update community on environmental concerns

Residents for Responsible Government (RRG) announced residents will have an opportunity to follow the ongoing state Department of Environmental Conservation hearings regarding Chemical Waste Management’s application to site a new 6-million-ton hazardous waste and PCB landfill operation in the towns of Lewiston and Porter.

Vince Agnello of RRG said people can watch or listen online to the DEC hearing beginning at 10 a.m. Monday, Oct. 16.

“This hearing is specific to radiological contamination on its property, which is disputed by CWM,” he said. “This is one of several hearings in the past year regarding CWM applications, which date back to 2003

“Both EPA and New York state have determined there is no need to site a new toxic waste landfill because there are 17 other such operations in the U.S. with the capacity to handle the nation’s needs for the foreseeable future.”

The CWM site is located 10 miles north of Love Canal and one mile from all public schools for two towns. CWM disposal operations have been closed for nearly eight years.

Visit RRG on the web, at https://rrg-ny.com/, for instructions to access the hearing and more info.

•In related news, the U.S. Army Corps Buffalo District announced it would hold a public information session concerning remediation activities at the former Lake Ontario Ordinance Works property in Lewiston and Porter.

The session will be held from 6-9 p.m. Tuesday. Oct. 17, at the Lewiston Senior Center, 4361 Lower River Road. The program is intended to update the community as to the status of the former LOOW site, a massive World War II-era property that once comprised more than 7,500 acres in both towns.

It’s expected Army Corps remediation plans for the 191-acre Niagara Falls Storage Site on Pletcher Road will be discussed, as well as NFSS balance of plant and groundwater concerns; ongoing design plans for the 10-acre interim waste containment structure that houses WWII-era radioactive wastes brought to the site; the status of NFSS vicinity property investigations; and future closeout activities associated with the LOOW site under the federal government’s Formal Utilized Site’s Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP).

For more information, email Army Corps Outreach Specialist Amy Gaskill at [email protected] or call 1-301-514-3947.