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There is a health crisis in Niagara Falls but but much of the city government seems to care.
Goodyear Chemical, on 56th Street, is releasing a carcinogenic chemical into the air in amounts that may be more than 1,000 times above allowed limits.
The pollution was the topic of a meeting Thursday night at Mount Hope Baptist Church. The Clean Air Coalition was there. So was retired County Legislator Renae Kimble, president of the NAACP Niagara Falls branch, who ran the meeting for 45 to 50 concerned citizens.
Noticeably disengaged and absent were Mayor Robert Restaino as well as 3 members of the city council in David Zajac, Traci Bax and Jim Perry. Just like E. Dent Lackey or Michael O’Laughlin at the start of Love Canal, they stayed home.
Perry even posted on Facebook last week about how important the jobs at Goodyear are to our struggling economy.
When the maelstrom builds, they will come around. Council Persons Donta Myles and Brian Archie were there. So was former Council Person Vince Cauley and County Legislator Jeff Elder.
At issue is a carcinogen called Ortho-Toluidine, which is known to cause bladder cancer.
Bridge Rauch of the Clean Air Coalition of Western New York said Goodyears OT emissions in 2022 and 2023 were reported as 1,300 pounds. The limit is 100 pounds.
The Department of Environmental Conservation earlier this month gave Goodyear a consent order that gives the manufacturer two years to address the issue at which time testing will be completed.
Retired DEC Geologist Kelly Cloydd explained to the crowd that while stack emissions of OT can be estimated, the real culprit may be fugitive emissions. Fugitive emissions are the difference between raw material in and discharge out – when the numbers don’t add up, the excess is going somewhere, sort of like non-point source pollution in agriculture.
Emissions were monitored at the plant, and shown to be in excess in 2022, but the testing was invalidated because the testing was flawed and only two of 13 stacks were tested according to a flyer handed out by organizers.
“To me, it is as basic as Kindergarten right and wrong,” Cloy said, “to point to something you know is false and say ‘see, this shows we are safe’.”
Organizers said residents seeing black sediment on vehicle or outdoor items should don gloves and wash it off with soap and water.
“Environmental injustice should not be the norm,” Kimble said, “it should be the abnormal.”
Matteo Anello, who lives near the plant and said he is dealing with a bladder issue, said he approached Restaino in church and the mayor is aware of the problem but needs to have all the facts before speaking out.
Anello said the community would rather see the plant fixed than closed.
More than 70 Goodyear employees have been diagnosed with bladder cancer since the 1980s. Many of them have been represented by Lipsitz, Ponterio and Comerford, a Buffalo lawfirm that had 3 partners in attendance at the meeting.
Meeting sponsors in addition to the Clean Air Coalition and NAACP included Don’t Waste NY, Interfaith Climate Justice Community of WNY, NYS Council of Churches and Sierra Club, Atlantic Chapter.
