Listening in at our hazardous waste ground zero
Residents of Lewiston and Porter gave state environmental regulators another earful last week.
At issue -- though representatives of the state Department of Environmental Conservation claimed otherwise -- was the future of the Northeast's only commercial hazardous waste landfill, CWM Chemical Services.
The agency was tasked with devising a plan to guide the development of hazardous waste facilities in 1987.
CWM, located on Balmer Road, has been looking for permission from the state to construct a new landfill since 2003. The company wants to add 6 million tons of capacity.
Last week's public hearings on the latest draft plan -- Wednesday night in Niagara Falls and Thursday night in Lewiston Porter High School -- gave the public its second chance to comment on the draft in two years.
In the latest draft, the state asserted it finds no need to create additional landfill capacity within New York -- something many in the local community have been arguing. Here's my story from October when the lastest draft was released.
In each of the last two drafts, regulators have also contended waste sites are distributed fairly throughout the state, even though Niagara County is home to the only commercial hazardous waste landfill in operation.
Below, you can listen to some of the comments offered at Thursday's hearing at Lew-Port.
--Aaron Besecker
Assemblywoman Francine Delmonte
Jim Ward, from Sen. George Maziarz's office
Village of Lewiston Mayor William Geiben
Niagara County Legislator John Ceretto
Laborers Local 91 representative Robert Connolly
Teamsters Local 449 President George Harrigan
Peter Cotter, UB Environmental Law and Policy Clinic
April Fideli, president of Residents for Responsible Government
The Rev. Charles Lamb, Youngstown resident
Amy Witryol, Lewiston resident
Lewiston Supervisor Fred M. Newlin II
A portion of comments from R. Nils Olsen Jr., UB Environmental Law and Policy Clinic


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