Plans to shift 8,600 cubic yards of waste from one part of Lackawanna’s waterfront to another location on the land may be a step forward, but Erie County Legislator Lynne Dixon says it’s not a large enough step in the right direction.
“With the resurgence we’re seeing in Buffalo, it stands to reason that the next step would be Lackawanna,” she said. “It seems to me that moving the soil just a short distance just doesn’t go far enough.” Dixon represents Lackawanna and adjoining communities.
The proposed cleanup plan for Lackawanna, developed by Tecumesh Redevelopment Inc., is to shift the waste – laced with arsenic, benzene and other toxic elements – from one part of the old Bethlehem Steel Co. property to another. The waste would be consolidated into acid tar pits farther south on the site, where it would be buried. Currently the waste can be found in several locations along the Lackawanna Ship Canal and on the shoreline just northeast of the Steel Winds turbine farm.
Dixon, along with State Sen. Tim Kennedy, D-Buffalo, Lackawanna Mayor Geoff Szymanski, Lackawanna City Council members, and community members will gather for a press conference at 11 a.m. on Monday at the former entrance of Bethlehem Steel near Ridge Road and Commerce Drive, to voice their concerns.
In addition, more than 1,000 people – both locally and across the country – have signed an online petition that will be delivered to the regional DEC office by Dixon prior to the press conference. The petition includes more than 26 pages of comments.
Dixon said the land could be used for future development, and moving the waste elsewhere is hindering the potential for progress in the Lackawanna area.
“It’s a very important site for future development,” she said. “If you use a big section of the property to serve as a landfill, you are accepting that much of it can’t be redeveloped.”
If the plan is approved, workers would finish consolidating the waste by the end of November, and Tecumesh would submit a final report by September 2016, DEC officials said in June.
Dixon said she also is scheduled to meet with the DEC on Tuesday, to address the communities concerns and hear further explanation of the plans.
Kennedy previously told The Buffalo News after a meeting with Szymanski and state and county DEC officials, that the plan the DEC hopes to put in place does not include a long-term approach for the land, nor does it align with what the city’s goals for the land moving forward.
DEC officials received Tecumseh’s plan earlier in the year, and following a public hearing in May, the DEC initially approved the plan in June.
Dixon said officials and community members will continue to fight to ensure Lackawanna has a chance to grow and change, just as Buffalo has.
“One of the ways to bring Lackawanna into the future is to begin addressing the massive piece of land on the waterfront that has so much potential,” she said.
Source: buffalonews.com
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