TONAWANDA, N.Y. — An update about the continued efforts to clean up the former Tonawanda Coke site was issued Wednesday by the the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation issued.
The next step is expected to begin next Monday, collecting soil samples, digging test pits, installing ground-water wells, and implementing a community air monitoring program to keep track of air quality as remediation work is done.
That investigative work will then be analyzed by Honeywell International and the Department of Environmental Conservation to draft a clean-up plan on how best to safely remove contamination from the site.
In July, the Erie County Legislature heard from the Clean Air Coalition and the new owner of the former Tonawanda Coke site.
The Clean Air Coalition would like a community advisory group to be formed to give people a seat at the table to talk about how it will be cleaned up.
Jon Williams is the developer for the new Riverview Innovation and Technology Campus. He says it's in everybody's interest that they find out what the issues are and get them taken care of.
"We want this site to have a hundred years of productive use and we want it to be an economically sustainable part of real estate for the town. And to do that, we have to clean it up. We have to get this right. So, we have no issue working together," Williams said.
"My only caveat to that is that the DEC brownfield agreement was set up by the legislature of New York to make this process move. Right? That they did it because they didn't want sites languishing in the EPA system for decades. Similar to Bethlehem Steel. They set up a system whereby they charged their agency, the DEC, with regulatory authority and they created public comment periods and input so that these activities would happen in a measured and defined way. And they wouldn't drag out for years and years and decades."
