The DEC is trying to pull a fast one on you

12/03/2003
By the Rev. Dr. Charles Lamb, Executive Committee member of the Niagara Group of the Sierra Club

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has released a Hazardous Waste Siting Plan and asked for commentary (Sentinel, Dec. 6).

This sounds boring and might get little public attention. In fact, it is dangerous and needs your response. Once you are informed, you’ll be outraged.

The plan, together with its Impact Statement, totals over 50 pages of obtuse language. You can review it at the Lewiston or Porter town halls, or the Lewiston, Youngstown, or Ransomville libraries.

I doubt if you’ll be able to stick with it all the way through. But the DEC says you can come to a meeting on Jan. 7 at Stony Brook, or Long Island City, or New Paltz, or six other cities to make your thoughts known. Want to go? Well, the closest one is in Niagara Falls. But none are in Porter or Lewiston. We’re just the ones most affected by the plan.

We have been waiting for this plan since 1987, when a New York state law required development of a plan stating where hazardous waste sites could be placed. The DEC drew up a plan which the New York State Supreme Court threw out as inadequate in 1994. The court then ordered the DEC to draw up an adequate plan “with all deliberate speed.” The plan was to assure equitable distribution of toxic waste across the state. Well, after a long wait, it seems the DEC is trying to rush this new plan through while you aren’t looking. Merry Christmas!

What’s wrong with it? Let’s count some ways.

1. It leaves Chemical Waste Management as the one and only licensed site for toxic wastes in the entire Northeast. This is “equitable distribution?”

2. It totally fails to address, or even mention, where the 176,000 truck loads of PCBs from the Hudson River might go, even though it says CWM has capacity to continue to receive wastes through 2005.

3. It leaves in place the current situation in which New York State receives hazardous materials from 30 states and from Canada.

4. It defends the idea of geographical dispersion of hazardous waste facilities, but doesn’t admit that the other sites mentioned are closed or are for on-site owners’ use only. This is extremely misleading.

5. There is no concern whatsoever about putting toxic wastes on top of already contaminated areas and the unknown dangers this may pose.

6. Not a word is mentioned regarding health concerns.

7. There is no call for environmental justice. It says we already have it. Do you think so, when we’re the dumping ground for the whole state, and more?

8. It disregards the importance of the transportation issue.

Those are just a few things wrong. Are you concerned yet?

In the meantime, permit applications have been filed with the DEC for the continuation and expansion of CWM. This should not be allowed. Let’s have no permits until there is an adequate siting plan.

So what can we do about it?

We need to say to the DEC< loud and clear:

. We will not accept this plan.

. Extend the time limit for commentary through March.

. Hold meetings in Lewiston and Porter. That’s where we are, you know!

. Start over. This plan won’t fly. As they say in the South, “This dog won’t hunt.” We won’t accept it.

We didn’t need this hassle for Christmas, but we got it. Don’t let them get away with it. Our Niagara County Legislature has passed a resolution calling for more time for the public to become informed and involved. The Porter and Lewiston town boards have done the same.

Lee Simonson and Clyde Burmaster from the County Legislature are working hard to slow down the DEC bulldozer, and Residents for Responsible Government is doing that too.

Much of my information in this article has come from RRG. And the Sentinel is doing the public a great service by providing lots of information you wouldn’t have found elsewhere, such as the article in their Dec. 6 issue by TerryDuffy. You can learn even more from the Sentinel web site at www.wnypapers.com or the RRG web site at www. rrg-wny.org.

Join the effort!

There will be a meeting at the Porter Town Hall on Monday, Dec. 15, at 7 p.m. The DEC plans a commentary meeting at the Niagara Falls Public Library on Jan. 7, 2004, at 2:30 and again at 6 p.m. And you can write: Glenn Milstry, New York State DEC, Division of Solid and Hazardous Materials, 625 Broadway, Albany, NY 12233-7251.

I also suggest that you protest to Gov. Pataki. Tell him what the DEC is doing and you want him to tell them to do their job. You can contact him at Gov. George Pataki, Executive Chamber, State Capital, Albany, NY 12224 or by phoning him at 518-474-8390.

Get ready to say NO in words and actions the DEC and our governor can understand.