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New York
Residents Against Mining (RAM) is organizing to stop plans to operate a 76-acre industrial hard rock quarry in southeastern Rensselaer County. RAM is concerned about drilling, blasting, rock crushing operations and truck traffic that will start as early as 6 am and how this will affect nearby homes and families, their quality of life and the environment of the neighborhood in Averill Park. The community is considering a number of strategies including rezoning the property, amending the Land Use and Development Regulations, and denying the zoning permit.
Eighty-nine residents are suing General Electric Co. and Black & Decker over health problems and property damage suffered from the cyanide, heavy metal and PCB contamination of their homes and neighborhoods. The toxic legacy from the manufacturing operations of these two companies from 1947 to 1987 has been the subject of multiple lawsuits over the past decade, including a $500 million suit that was settled for an undisclosed amount in 2003. “I’ve got three kids,” said Raymond Prest, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 1990 after years of living near a contaminated Brockport creek. “I want to be around to see them grow up. I want to see my grandkids.” The case will likely go to trial next year.
After five long years, the Hickory Woods Concerned Homeowners Association is celebrating the city’s decision to finally offer homeowners a concrete, fully funded offer for their homes, which were built by the city on land they knew, or should have known, was contaminated with lead and cancer-causing chemicals. The finishing touches are being put on a $1.5 million buyout plan of about 60 homes in the South Buffalo neighborhood. “This is what we’ve been waiting for,” said Russell Radder, a longtime Hickory Woods homeowner. “It seems like they finally put something down on paper.” The buyout plan includes funds to cleanup five contaminated lots and improving several neighborhood streets.
Four members of the Cheektowaga Citizens Coalition showed up at the home of Buffalo Crushed Stone’s president, Steven B. Detwiler, to present him a dubious polluter award. The group’s “Dirty Dozen Award,” annually presented to the cream of the polluting crop, is intended to draw attention to local sites that pose environmental health hazards. Buffalo Crushed Stone’s two limestone mines and two asphalt plants are creating health risks for residents in the Bellevue area of Cheektowaga. Barring a preferred shut down of operations, the coalition wants the company to clean up its act.
More than 120 people attended a community forum sponsored by the Community Concerned About NL Industries (CCNL) to learn the results of a study measuring radiation levels in workers and residents living near the NL Industries factory in Colonie. The study found radioactive contamination in the body of workers as well as residents, even though the factory has been closed for more than 20 years. Depleted uranium was measured in urine using a new technique developed by scientists from the United Kingdom. An estimated 5 tons of depleted uranium was released from the munitions plant into the surrounding neighborhood, primarily by air emissions, from 1958 until 1981 when the plant was closed. The study, which was a joint project between researchers from Leicester University in England and from the University of Albany, is scheduled to be published in a scientific journal. CCNL is now seeking funds for additional testing of both workers and residents and has submitted a petition to the federal government calling for testing and cleanup of the uranium contaminated areas. (Spring 2008)
The Community Concerned About NL Industries (CCNL), with support from CHEJ, is working on a unique body burden study to document depleted uranium exposure by having a scientist test the urine and teeth of residents and workers, as well as household dust, soil and tree bark in the Colonie community. NL Industries operated its polluting factory from 1958 to 1981, and then left town. The site was added to a federal cleanup program and for 20-plus years, the Army Corps of Engineers and Department of Energy have been cleaning up the neighborhood and the plant property. CCNL successfully obtained $6 million in federal funding this year to finish the cleanup.
Leaders from over 25 environmental groups including CHEJ, Citizen’s Environmental Coalition, NYPIRG, Mid-Hudson Chapters of the Sierra Club, and the Beacon Sloop Club, signed a letter asking Senator Stephen Saland of Poughkeepsie to sponsor legislation that would require testing of private wells when properties are transferred. “You represent people living in two federal Superfund sites in East Fishkill,” read the letter spearheaded by Debra Hall of Hopewell Junction Citizens for Clean Water. “The residents at both these sites drank cancer causing contaminated water for at least 20 or more years without knowing it.” With a well-testing law set to take effect in Dutchess County this summer, the groups are pushing for legislation to require the testing state-wide.
Concerned Citizens of Cattaraugus County (CCCC) is suspicious of plans by Laidlaw Energy Group to build a wood waste incinerator at a closed natural gas power plant in Ellicottville. CCCC doesn’t understand why Laidlaw would haul so-called “clean” wood hundreds of miles, from as far away as New England, when there are much cheaper disposal alternatives available. Their worries have been fueled by changes in the proposed plan in response to community concerns, making the company’s true motives unclear. A planning board meeting at the end of January may help clarify their questions.
Hopewell Junction residents have struggled with TCE contamination in their well water for years and are now working to figure out how to protect their health from the long-term threat of this contamination. Their groundwater was contaminated with industrial solvents that were improperly disposed of. Many of these solvents evaporated out of the groundwater and traveled through the soil and into basements of many homes in the community (see feature story on vapor intrusion in this issue). Government officials opted to remediate individual homes that had high levels of TCE in indoor air while leaving the residents in their current homes. CHEJ is working with the Hopewell Junction Citizens for Clean Water to help them address the long-term contamination issues.
Residents of Kingston are tired of explosions that shake their foundations and are getting organized to address a local quarry operation. In search of more sandstone to make cement, the operation has been blasting rock, leveling two mountains so far. The main issues raised by residents are noise created by the blasting, air (dust) pollution, groundwater contamination, and truck traffic. Since everyone in the area uses wells as their main water supply, groundwater contamination is especially worrisome. The community is working to have clean water piped in from a neighboring town as they organize to address other major issues.
A group of residents in Lockport are getting organized and seeking others in the community who are directly affected by existing or potential contamination from Eighteen Mile Creek near the abandoned Flintkote factory. This site was recently listed by the state Department of Environmental Conservation as a Class 2 Superfund site due to the environmental and public health risks present at the site. Lead and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), a coolant used in electrical capacitors and transformers, are the pollutants of greatest concern. (Fall 2008)
Over 50 community leaders and local officials called for a full cleanup of the GE Dewey Loeffel Superfund toxic dump at a recent public meeting in Nassau, near Albany. United Neighbors Concerned about GE Dewey Loeffel Landfill (UNCAGED) urged the state to cleanup the polluted Nassau Lake, build a new dam and begin a health study to better understand if illnesses have increased from exposures to the over 46,000 tons of toxic waste at the site. UNCAGED is concerned that contaminants have moved beyond the landfill site and have impacted surrounding neighbors. (Summer 2008)
Residents Against Mining (RAM) had a major victory in July when Nassau voted to extend a moratorium on large mining operations. Local Law #4 prohibits commercial mining in all of the town’s districts. RAM’s previous victories include beating back proposals from mining companies such as Martin Marietta and Hilltop Basic Resources. Their rural community is currently facing three proposals for major mining of greywacke stone, which residents and town officials have been fighting for months.
Sustainable South Bronx in New York City is continuing their efforts to shut down a sludge treatment plant in their neighborhood. The NY Organic Fertilizer Company takes New York City sludge generated from a nearby waste water treatment plant and converts it into a compost material. The residents living adjacent to the plant have long complained of odors and air emissions, but have been unsuccessful in generating enough pressure to shut the facility down. Now they are looking to a review of the Title V air permit as an opportunity to further address their concerns.
Congratulations to residents in New York who have formed a new alliance -the New York Vapor Intrusion Alliance. The group’s goals are to 1) assist impacted residents, communities and schools across state in addressing toxic chemical exposure from vapor intrusion; 2) explore the impact of vapor intrusion on health and property, identify commonalities, and present our findings as a means to educate the public, media, and policy-makers; and 3) collaborate with local and state officials to adopt protective remediation standards, policies, procedures and technologies to prevent or mitigate vapor intrusion that are based on 21st century knowledge and science. (Spring 2008)
Residents in Romulus celebrated when they heard that Empire Bio-Fuels was abandoning its plan to build an ethanol plant at the Seneca Army Depot in the Finger Lakes region. The community won this fight by successfully organizing and increasing public awareness. They found support by joining with other organizations, such as the Sierra Club. One lesson they learned was not to take the legal route at first. CHEJ provided the residents with resource materials and organizing help in their fight to stop the permitting of this ethanol plant. (Fall 2008)
Leaders of Clean Up Riverview's Environment (CURE) in Tonawanda reports a victory at hand. The members of CURE have been organizing to have the private property near the Tonawanda landfill tested. Both the Army Corp of Engineers and the DEC have not tested to the resident’s satisfaction. The city has generated specifications and put out for bid a contract to do testing working closely with CURE. The Town of Tonawanda has also agreed to do soil testing on private property near the landfill. CHEJ has provided organizing and technical support to CURE and we congratulate them on their accomplishments so far. (Spring 2008)
Residents and members of Clean Up Riverview Environment (CURE) in the city of Tonawanda are organizing to get the town and the Army Corp of Engineers to remove the radioactive isotopes from a landfill that borders their neighborhood. Their demands include cleanup and testing of soil closest to the landfill, citizen’s participation in the landfill closure plans, a health study of the neighborhood and an evaluation of the potential impact on an elementary school located near the landfill. CURE wants some assurance that radioactive substances have not contaminated the soil of homes adjacent to the landfill. The landfill is believed to have been the deposit site for residual waste from the “Manhattan Project.” CHEJ is providing organizing help and resources to CURE.
Congratulations to the Tonawanda Bucket Brigade, who won funding from the EPA to conduct a yearlong ambient air-monitoring program with the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) around numerous Tonawanda chemical plants that have long been the target of residents’ complaints. At a recent community meeting, the DEC said that they would never have been able to accomplish this had the community group not taken the initiative to do their own air quality monitoring. The $300,000 grant will allow DEC to install four air sampling stations surrounding the Tonawanda industrial area. CHEJ’s PVC Campaign Coordinator, Mike Schade, assisted the Tonawanda Bucket Brigade in their beginnings while on the staff of the Citizen’s Environmental Coalition and celebrates this victory with the Tonawanda community.
The Clean Air Coalition of Western New York has been making strides in their fight for justice in Tonawanda, an area overburdened by a cluster of chemical plants including a nasty coke plant and one of the largest coal-fired power plants in the state. The group has held several energizing community meetings, taken Bucket Brigade air samples, and received a major grant from the state that will help with their organizing effort. In October, CHEJ organizers facilitated a 2-day training and strategic planning session for the group. (Winter 2008)
Residents in North Tonawanda are trying to figure out what’s the source of a foul smelling milky substance that’s in their storm water drainage system. The sulfur like odor has not been identified and citizens want to know if it is toxic. The public health agency has been less than candid about the substance, leading to growing suspicion. A neighborhood group is forming with help from CHEJ. They are demanding proof that this substance is not toxic or a threat to their health. (Summer 2008)
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