Published: October 25, 2007 01:43 am      

NIAGARA RIVER: Officials discuss river cleanup

A host of officials from environmental agencies in both the United States and Canada discussed what they called 20 years of success in cleaning up the Niagara River on Wednesday, while at the same time warning that challenges lay ahead.

“As much work as you do, as much work as you have accomplished, you learn there’s much more to be done and it’s not something that can be declared 100 percent finished,” said Jim Vollmershausen, regional director general for Environmental Canada.

The officials gathered for a public meeting with more than 50 people in attendance at the Holiday Inn in Grand Island to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Niagara River Declaration Intent — an agreement between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, state Department of Environmental Conservation, Environmental Canada and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment to coordinate efforts to reduce toxic pollution in the Niagara River. That declaration became the Niagara River Toxics Management Plan.

By installing a system of monitoring the river and targeting specific places which contributed toxic materials — ranging from brownfield sites and landfills to municipal water treatment facilities — strides have been made to clean up the water and re-establish parts of the ecosystem which had been wiped away, said Don Zelazny of the DEC. Eighteen toxic substances — including lead, arsenic, PCBs and mercury — were identified as priority toxics which should be the focus of cleanup efforts.

Of the 26 sites on the U.S. side which were found in 1987 to need cleanup, 21 have been completed, Zelazny said. The remaining five are in process.

At the former Niagara Mohawk-Cherry Farm site in the Town of Tonawanda, pits in which toxic materials were dumped seeped into the Niagara River, Zelazny said. Since the site was cleaned, once-absent shore grass has grown at the site again. Habitats for fish and birds have also been established near the site.

MaryEllen Scanlon of the OME warned that air pollution and toxins which flow through the Niagara River from other parts of Lake Erie still present real challenges. Addressing those concerns, searching out sources of pollution outside of the previously identified “18 toxics” and a continued focus on cleaning local sources of pollution will be the focus of the four agencies, she said.

But “significant decreases in many of the chemicals in the river show that remedial and management actions are having positive impacts,” she said.

As the river cleanup portion of the meeting concluded, audience members posed a series of questions and concerns, including the lack of availability for public input, differing international cleanup standards and the contradiction of a hazardous waste landfill, CWM Chemical Services, emitting certain amounts of toxic materials into the water.

No answer was provided for the hazardous waste facility and international cleanup standards issues, but Mario DelVicario said that steps were being taken to provide a forum for public input, adding that the meeting they were at was one of those opportunities.

Another presentation was given on the Lake Ontario Lakewide Mangement Plan, which was developed at the same time and led to similar cleanup functions along Lake Ontario.

Contact reporter Dan Miner at 282-2311 ext. 2263.