About 75,000 tons of PCB wastes from Queensbury are headed to CWM in Porter, despite the original state DEC decision to destroy them on-site with safe technology.
The DEC was prohibited by law from accepting the one bid it received for full on-site remediation because that bid exceeded the DEC engineer’s estimate.
While it is disappointing that the second round of DEC bidding did not deter land disposal, the fact remains, bad New York policy for the past 15 years limited DEC’s choices.
Prices at hazardous waste landfills have dropped dramatically for more than 15 years because of overcapacity in the market. That drove away healthy competition and made the existing, safer technology more expensive to use on site.
There are reportedly only three owners of the equipment in the market that would take care of the more concentrated contamination on site. We were told one had equipment under repair, another was working on an EPA project, and the third probably knew he was the only bidder.
Three newspapers reported that the DEC had already awarded a bid when news of this latest shipment broke. Presumably CWM does not expect DEC to break a contract under law.
CWM stood by and let the Town of Porter Board violate its CAC Agreement with a resolution that divides us against the rest of the state over a sliver of the hazardous wastes dumped here we can do nothing to stop. If we did, what we would get instead is as bad or worse, and the people of Queensbury would be the victims.
Fighting a done deal and one that pits us against the rest of the state weakens our ability to win the war on the upcoming Hazardous Waste Siting Plan, to finally move state policy toward safer and permanent cleanups, and put us out of our toxic landfill misery.
A Porter Town Board member quoted in last week suggested the state landfill the PCBs somewhere else in New York. Ironically, that would help CWM expand, because CWM could then meet the DEC’s geographic distribution test. Today, CWM flunks that test because it is the only hazardous waste landfill. A second landfill in NY would not stop CWM expansion, but instead would help it — and maker safer alternatives even less cost-effective.
Last week the Erie County Legislature called for an end to hazardous waste landfill operations anywhere in New York.
In response, CWM told the papers it took in 116,000 tons of waste from Erie County in “recent years.” But that’s more hazardous waste than the entire State of New York shipped to CWM the past two years, according to DEC.
Division and myths will help only CWM in the upcoming statewide Hazardous Waste Siting Plan hearings.
Undoubtedly with Sen. Maziarz’s blessing, former Gov. Pataki appointed CWM’s district manager to the New York State Great Lakes Commission and reappointed him late in 2006 after vetoing our hazardous waste bill. Let’s hope we get better notice and help from Maziarz in the future.
After Queensbury, we are told there are no other such PCB cleanups planned in the state, because the biggest and most toxic sites have been cleaned up. The Hudson River PCBs are not coming here.
Most CWM waste comes from outside the state and is just as dangerous as the PCBs headed here. We can expect much more unless we stop CWM’s pending application to expand when its current landfill reaches capacity in five years.
Governor Paterson, we implore you to break from the flawed policy of your two predecessors, and make safe alternatives more available. Governor, adopt a policy that the state will discourage more hazardous waste landfill capacity.
Amy Witryol is a Lewiston resident.
Columns
GUEST VIEW: State needs to get hazardous waste policy
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HAMILTON: The SPCA and the pineapple upside-down pie
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GLYNN: Slim chance now for a real thick ice bridge
If you’re not convinced about the unpredictability of Western New York weather, consider that this area was experiencing temperatures in the mid-40s on the 100th anniversary of the ice bridge tragedy in the gorge.
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BRADBERRY: Is Black History Month Still Relevant?
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CONFER: Time to end the NFL’s blackout rule
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CITY BEAT: Stuck on traffic
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HIGGS: Discussing crime and punishment in the Falls
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GLYNN: Hotel Niagara plan exciting for the Falls
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HAMILTON: BOE and kids, or the SPCA dogs?
There is example after example of otherwise qualified Niagara Falls’ board of education members and staffers lending their time and efforts to organizations outside of the school district’s core business.
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GLYNN: Trust in SPCA shelter must be restored
Stories about the operations at the Niagara SPCA shelter shape the image of sickening and disgusting treatment of animals.
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BRADBERRY: Old medicine and new challenges
Having suffered and recovered from my fair share of illnesses and injuries over the years, I have come to believe that sometimes the treatment and the cure of my condition can seem to be far worse than whatever I may think is ailing me at the moment.
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