DEC monitoring Goodyear shutdown

By Emyle Watkins

WBFO

After 80 years in Niagara Falls, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company’s plant has ceased production and has begun the process of decommissioning.

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Region 9 Acting Director Chad Staniszewski told BTPM News earlier this week the agency is in conversation with the factory to ensure shutdown and removal of waste is done properly. He said this process is expected to take a few months.

"Our understanding is that Goodyear continues to actively work towards facility shutdown; that they would like to do that in an appropriate manner in the shortest time that they can," Staniszewski said. "And I think they were looking at the first quarter of 2027 to really have a lot of that work done, but we'll see if that's actually the schedule that ends up happening."

A Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN notice, posted Oct. 26 states work will end for 51 of the plant's 56 employees on Dec. 30, 2026.

BTPM News reached out to Goodyear, asking where the company is in the shutdown process and how long the process is expected to take.

"Manufacturing production has ceased and decommissioning activities are beginning at our Niagara Falls facility," Goodyear responded.

Staniszewski said the company has been communicating with New York State, which will be responsible for checking that Goodyear has properly removed its hazardous waste.

"They have some hazardous waste that they'll need to dispose of. We will make sure that they dispose of those wastes," Staniszewski said, adding that they will inspect the facility during and after "shutdown procedures to make sure that they have complied with all the regulations and make sure that, essentially, it's shut down in a manner that's consistent with the laws that govern that facility."

BTPM and partners Public Health Watch and Inside Climate News first reported in 2024 that the factory was emitting a known bladder carcinogen into the air for at least 15 years, due to faulty pollution control measures. In that time, the state had not required the factory to fix its equipment.

The company quietly announced the plant’s closure just weeks before it was required to have installed new, permanent pollution control measures.