By Nick MatteRA nick.mattera@niagara-gazette.com
Niagara Gazette
NIAGARA FALLS —
Charitable donations from a Chemical Waste Management fundraiser will not affect the company’s application for expansion, two Department of Environmental Conservation representatives said Friday.
This statement comes at a time when local community groups, schools and municipalities are voting to benefit from a fundraising golf tournament. In recent weeks, both the Town of Lewiston and Lewiston-Porter school board have turned down contributions from CWM after consulting with expert counsel and receiving correspondence from anti-CWM groups.
Gary Abraham, special counsel to Niagara County in matters involving CWM, met with the school officials and told them accepting any donation from CWM would increase the chances the DEC would approve the company’s application for expansion.
A DEC spokeswoman said differently.
“There is nothing in our laws or regulations that would provide credit or consideration in an application process for activities such as those being discussed in regards to CWM donations from a golf tournament,” DEC spokeswoman Maureen Wren said. “These donations would not be part of the application, charitable and community support are not in the material reviewed by the DEC.”
CWM’s application for expansion is on hold because state regulators have not established a set of guidelines for the disposal of toxic waste in New York. The 710-acre site operates in a 47-acre landfill known a RMU-1 and is seeking to expand to a landfill known as RMU-2.
Kent Johnson, an Albany-based geologist with the DEC who works at the CWM site said any donation from CWM would not play a role in the DEC’s review of the application.
“I think we have got a little bit more integrity than that,” Johnson said. “Community contributions aren’t really a factor in respect to our determination.”
The statements by the DEC contradict statements made by school board members and Residents for Responsible Government officials April Fideli and Wendy Swearingen, who both advised the district to turn down the donation saying CWM would point to community contributions when attempting to show its viability and acceptance in the community to the DEC.
CWM’s parent company Houston-based Waste Management is holding a national fundraiser at the Niagara Falls Country Club in September. It is expected the fundraiser will garner more than $200,000 to be shared among various community groups in Niagara County. To date, only the Town of Porter and the Youngstown Volunteer Fire Company have publicly indicated they will receive donations.
Despite the school board voting in May to accept the donation and then rescinding the resolution earlier this month, sources indicate the board may try to get a resolution on the agenda for the July reorganization meeting to again approve receiving the donation.
Lew-Port Superintendent R. Christopher Roser said while a donation from CWM would be beneficial to the district it is in his opinion Lew-Port has become a pawn in a political game between many different organizations.
