Waste Tunnel Collapse at Tonawanda Coke Plant triggers Call for Government Investigation of Emissions

Tonawanda Coke Confirms Waste Tunnel Collapse

Last Friday, The Tonawanda Coke Corporation confirmed allegations by the Clean Air Coalition that the waste heat tunnel at their facility had collapsed, possibly causing toxic emissions to spew into the surrounding community.

The waste heat tunnel is a concrete tunnel that runs underground the length of the battery, all 60 coke manufacturing ovens. The main purpose of the waste heat tunnel is to collect the waste combustible heat from the ovens. Now that the tunnel has collapsed, gases can't normally flow into the facility's chimneys, and the company can't draw enough fresh air into the manufacturing process. Without enough fresh air drawn into the process, the coking process will possibly create toxic releases into the ambient air, and into the surrounding community.

One of the chemical's of concern is benzene, a known carcinogen linked to leukemia and other types of illnesses.

You can view the press coverage here from the Buffalo News, WIVB Channel 4, and WGRZ, Channel 2.

We call on the Environmental Protection Agency, the US Attorney General's Office and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to perform a full investigation of the incident. We are calling on state and federal agencies to determine the cause of the tunnel collapse, risks posed to workers, and risks posed to the surrounding community.

If you live or work in the area and are noticing dark smoke or odors coming from the facility, submit a complaint to the New York Department of Conservation by calling 851-7000 or completing and mailing in this complaint form.

The Clean Air Coalition of WNY will keep you posted as this situation progresses. 

GASLAND Film Director Bringing New Film to WNY

Climate Justice Coalition
of Western NY

 Free and Open to the Public

Join Josh Fox and concerned citizens in Pendleton on Tuesday, May 3rd at 6:30PM where the local community is fighting the proposed National Fuel Northern Access Project. That project would bring fracked gas from Pennsylvania through a new pipeline and into new dehydration and compressor stations that bring noise and toxic air pollution. To add insult to injury, the gas will be exported to Canada.  

Planet-warming fossil fuels are history. Nature's clean, renewable energy sources are the future. We need to let go of the past and invest in the future!

Watch the film Trailer

Interview of Josh Fox about his film and related issues HERE

Climate Justice Coalition of WNY: List of Spring 2016 Events is Here

Social Media:
Facebook.com/RiseUpforClimateJustice
Twitter.com/RU4CJBuffalo
niagarasierraclub.com/rise-up-for-climate-justice

Funded in part by grant from the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo and the Sierra Club Niagara Group

FORUM: Love Canal and Beyond - Environmental Justice in Niagara Falls

WHAT: Panel discussion for the community and campus at Niagara University

WHEN: Thursday, October 15, 6:00pm-8:00pm

WHERE: Gallagher Center (lower level), Niagara University [Campus Map] [Road Map]

WHY: The purpose of this forum is to consider the legacies of environmental injustice in Niagara Falls and to determine strategies for empowering the community. 

Panelists will reflect on how Niagara Falls residents were able to organize to respond to the toxic threats of the Love Canal community in the 1970s and 1980s, how hazardous conditions continue to threaten our local citizens, and how the lessons and strategies of Love Canal can be applied to today’s environmental dangers.  

PANELISTS: 

• Stephen Lester, Center for Health and Environmental Justice
• Luella Kenny, Former Love Canal Resident
• Rebecca Newberry, Executive Director of the Clean Air Coalition
• Mayor Paul Dyster, Niagara Falls (Invited)

The event is open to the public and all are encouraged to attend—please share with others who might be interested!

The event is sponsored by the Niagara University Political Science Department and the Levesque Institute for Civic Engagement at Niagara.

For additional information, please contact Dave Reilly at dreilly@niagara.edu or by phone at (716) 286-8088.

Seven of NY's Biggest Polluters are Local

Western New York is home to seven of the state's biggest polluters, according to The Buffalo News analysis of the Toxics Release Inventory of 2009 recently made available by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The Toxics Release Inventory Program compiles data on toxic chemical releases and waste management activities reported annually by certain industries and federal facilities and makes it available through online database tools.

The local companies are listed below according to their rank in New York's Top 25 Polluters:

7. CWM Chemical Services, Lewiston and Porter
8. Huntley Station, Town of Tonawanda
14. 3M Company, Town of Tonawanda
16. AES Somerset, Somerset
18. DuPont Yerkes plant, Town of Tonawanda
19. Niagara Generation, Niagara Falls
21. Cooper Power Systems, Olean

CWM is the area's largest polluter, releasing 765,544 pounds of waste, 99% which is burried in its landfill.

A CWM spokesperson called the EPA's methodology "misleading and counterintuitive", stating that "What is in fact an activity that provides a high level of community protection is inappropriately reported as a 'release' to the environment." See the full report at BuffaloNews.com.

It is not surprising that CWM does not consider their land as part of the environment? Industrial toxic waste present in the Love Canal community was always part of the environment, both when it was buried underground as well as after it leaked from the burial site and became a public health emergency.

The EPA monitors releases of toxic pollution into air, water and land, both on- and off-site, to ensure a high level of community protection, now and into the future.

Please note that The Buffalo News ranking is based on the quantity of chemical waste released, not on the toxicity of the specific chemicals. Also, the EPA data do not reflect what exposure there may be to the public from the chemicals released.

The EPA's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) provides communities with information about chemical releases and waste management activities in order to support informed decision making at all levels by industry, government, non-governmental organizations, and the public. Online access to the TRI is provided here.