Another toxic dump for Western New York? No way!
Pick up the phone. Tell New York State Governor David Paterson and the DEC commissioner we can't take any more toxics! Call the Governor at (518) 474-8390 and demand an end to toxic dumping in New York State! Call DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis at (518) 404-8545. Tell him we won’t stand for it!
Sierra Club and Residents for Responsible Government Say NO to Toxic and Hazardous Waste Dumping in New York State
Although commercial hazardous waste landfills have and will close in other states, New York continues to permit the operation of a hazardous waste landfill, and it is right here in Western New York, the Chemical Wast Management (CWM) facility in Niagara County. New York has historically been a net importer of hazardous waste for land disposal, including PCB waste, and these imports are transported by trucks traveling New York State highways. Hazardous waste landfill operations have a history of contaminating groundwater in the State of New York.
A Dangerous Situation
State DEC records show that trucks have arrived at the CWM gate leaking, indicating they may have been leaking on the way to the site, on our roads, in our neighborhoods.
There is no need for this, and certainly no need to expand the dump and bring even more toxic waste into Western New York. The federal EPA stated in 1995 that national hazardous waste land disposal capacity is adequate “now, and in the foreseeable future.” Further, the State DEC has issued a draft Hazardous Waste Siting Plan that states that even with the closure of New York’s hazardous waste landfill in 2013, there is an estimated 42 years of capacity nationwide. Expanding hazardous waste land disposal capacity in New York State is likely to restrain investments in, and competition for, safer hazardous waste management practices such as recycling and treatment.
We Drink the from the Water into Which Toxic Waste Flows
Five million people in Western New York and Ontario, and unnumbered animals, get their drinking water from the Niagara River and Lake Ontario. They are adversely affected by CWM’s toxic landfill. More than 4,000 students, teachers, and staff see trucks loaded with toxic and hazardous waste drive directly past their K-12 campus each day. A recent Niagara County Department of Health study [link: http://www.health.state.ny.us/environmental/investigations/lewiston/docs/lewiston_cancer_report.pdf] noted significant increases in childhood cancers in the area.
CWM is in the Niagara River/Lake Ontario watershed, only two miles from the river and three miles from the lake. In addition, it is only one mile from a large school complex for grades k-12.
History of Environmental Abuse
CWM, a subsidiary of the giant, $13-billion Waste Management Company, is located in Porter, NY, and is adjacent to the “temporary” federal storage of 2,000 curies of Radium 226 from atomic bomb production, and other radioactive residues and contaminated debris. This federal storage facility is called The Niagara Falls Storage Site or NFSS, in the war-time settlement of Model City. The CWM "Model City " facility was constructed by predecessors in 1971. As one of 10 U.S. facilities licensed to accept high concentrations of PCB waste, CWM has operated under a NYS Department of Environmental Conservation Order on Consent (#R9-2001-0921-67). CWM was in violation of New York State DEC law for PCB contamination in its storm water that is discharged to the Niagara River and Great Lakes.
How You Can Help
The Sierra Club and Residents for Responsible Government (RRG) are fighting the dumping of toxic and hazardous waste in New York State. Through education, litigation, public outreach, and fund raising, we are fighting the environmental and human damage that hazardous and toxic waste dumping causes.
Toxic pollution of the Great Lakes is a major problem. Yet CWM wants to expand and bring more and more toxics here! The Sierra Club and RRG stand against this. We're telling New York State Governor David Paterson and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Grannis not to give CWM a permit to pollute.
The State of New York must, now and in the future, adhere to EPA guidelines taking into account permanency and environmental harm when addressing the issue of hazardous waste disposal, reconizing that land disposal is not a per manent solution and poses risks.
The Sierra Club and RRG support sustainable and attractive economic growth and regard hazardous waste and toxic dumps as a non-renewable use of a community’s assets, posing permanent risk to the environment and imposing an undesirable image on a community, thereby impeding economic development efforts.
Citizen input is needed to stop the influx of toxic and hazardous waste into Niagara County and the Great Lakes watershed. Please tell DEC and our elected officials to stop poisoning our land and lakes. Demand the timely closure of CWM and remediation of the site.
Contact NYS DEC:
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Buffalo Region 9 Office
270 Michigan Avenue
Buffalo, NY 14203-2999
Email: region9@gw.dec.state.ny.us
Additional information regarding hazardous waste permitting activities at this CWM Model City Facility may be obtained by contacting the Department's Buffalo Office at (716) 851-7220 or the Department's Albany Office at (518) 402-8594.
Contact the commissioner of the NYS DEC:
Peter Grannis, Commissioner
625 Broadway
Albany, NY 12233-1011
Phone: 518-402-8540
Contact NYS Governor Paterson:
Hon. David A. Paterson
State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224
Phone: 518-474-8390
Contact the Sierra Club at http://newyork.sierraclub.org/ for more information. Help the Sierra Club keep up its fight against toxic and hazardous waste by sending a contribution to:
The Sierra Club
PO Box 371
Williamsville, NY 14231
We appreciate your generosity now more than ever!
