Progressive Wednesday

Clergyman Charlie: On a cleaner Niagara

June 14th, 2007 by Charles Lamb

A lot has happened, and is proposed, to revive Niagara Falls and the surrounding area.  There are beginning to be signs of hope for a better future.

I think it is important to remember that the reason Niagara Falls is an attraction to people from around the world centers on water.  People come to see the Falls, and then they do other things while they are in the area.

I grew up just outside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  Gatlinburg is quite a tourist city, but people come primarily for the mountains.  Without those mountains, Gatlinburg would not have become the attraction it is. So, it seems obvious that we need to protect and enhance our waterways.  They are our number one asset.

20 percent of the fresh water on the planet (That’s right, not the USA, but the planet) is in the Great Lakes.  This is our greatest treasure, and it is our responsibility to protect it.

The most contradictory thing to this that I can imagine is having the only licensed toxic waste landfill in the northeastern quadrant of the United States in Niagara County. Chemical Waste Management (CWM), located just a few miles north of Niagara Falls, within a few miles of Lake Ontario, and adjacent to the Lewiston-Porter Schools, has a terrible negative impact on our area.

The landfill is almost full, but CWM has applied for a permit for expansion.  The expansion is not needed.  The Environmental Protection Agency says that adequate facilities are available elsewhere.  The Sierra Club says that CWM is in a particularly unsuitable place for toxic disposal.  Unexamined atomic wastes from the Manhattan Project are in that area and no excavation should occur there.  And modern technologies for decontaminating toxics now exist, so that land filling is the least desirable way of disposing of these dangerous chemicals.

Having hundreds of trucks pass the school while it is in session, and having PCBs leak regularly into Lake Ontario, should have our citizens up in arms.  People in Niagara County need to rise up and say “Enough is Enough!”  We’ve had more than our share of toxics, which decrease our property values, lessen the attractiveness of our area, and probably add to our exceptionally high cancer rates in this area.

I hope every Western New York resident who reads this column will contact their State Senator or Assemblyperson, plus  Governor Spitzer, and insist that this stop.  Join organizations like Residents for Responsible Government which is fighting against any expansion by CWM.  You can contact RRG by calling the President, April Fideli, at (716)745-7605, by responding to this column, or online)  The group generally meets on the first Wednesday of each month at 7:00 p.m. and on the third Saturday at 9:00 a.m. at the Village Office building (Red Brick Schoolhouse) in Youngstown, NY.  Please get involved.

We can make Niagara Falls and Niagara County more attractive and desirable if we become known as a clean and green place, not the toxic waste capital of the northeast.

Photo courtesy of this lake-dweller