From: Zac Moore (ZDMoore@maxwell.syr.edu)
Date: Mon Oct 21 2002 - 00:10:11 EDT
***Please forward to press outlets***
> For Immediate Release:
> October 21st, 2002
Syracuse, NY
> Contact: Zac Moore, Syracuse United Neighbors (SUN)
> 315-476-7475/sun@dreamscape.com
>
>
> Scientists Challenge Pataki's $160 Million Cleanup,
> Call for Federal Review of Most Polluted Lake in United States
>
> Related Articles:
>
> http://ithaca.indymedia.org/media/00/00/02/9B/
>
> http://ithaca.indymedia.org/media/00/00/02/99/
>
>
>
> Key Facts Regarding the Midland Sewage Struggle and the Onondaga Lake
> Cleanup
>
> * Onondaga Lake is often called the most polluted lake in North
> America. Raw sewage from combined sewage overflow into Onondaga
> Lake's tributaries, including Onondaga Creek. An environmentally
> sound solution is required.
>
> * The CNY aquatic scientific community says that poor and
> inadequate science is being implemented in an unaccountable process.
> Over thirty respected scientists from Cornell University, Sryacuse
> University, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF),
> and the Upstate Freshwater Institute have signed a formal petition to
> Congress asking that the National Research Council review the science
> on the Onondaga Lake Cleanup projects. Presently, only the
> engineering corporations contracted to build these projects are
> responsible for monitoring themselves. (See www.upstatefreshwater.org
> for a petition and research findings). (See Syracuse Post 9.22.02
> article, "After Cleanup Will Lake Still Be Dirty?" by Mark Weiner)
>
> * Over $380 million in Federal, State and County tax dollars are
> at stake. Over $100 Million of Federal tax dollars and over $160
> million of New York State tax dollars ($75 million from the NYS
> Environmental Bond Act and $85 million from Annual Appropriations).
> The total amount of the Cleanup effort now exceeds $380 million in tax
> dollars from annual appropriations and bonds.
>
> * The Onondaga Lake Cleanup is controlled and driven by a
> consortium of firms called Envirnonmental Engineering Associates (EEA)
> and Moffa and Associates. County projects worth tens of millions of
> dollars are not being bid-out to firms with the best solution or
> lowest cost. Instead, County projects (employing millions of NYState
> and Federal tax dollars) are limited and confined to EEA and other
> participating firms in the consortium, namely O'Brien and Gere (OBG),
> Blasland, Bouck and Lee (BBL) and Sterns and Wheeler. OBG and BBL are
> ranked in the top 100 largest engineering firms in the United States
> and are major campaign contributors to both Onondaga County Executive
> Nick Pirro and New York Governor, George Pataki. Recently, Senior
> Vice President of OBG, Terry Madden, appeared in a recent Pataki
> campaign ad promoting job growth in Central New York.
>
> * Onondaga County's plan to build a chlorine plant in the middle
> of an African-American majority residential neighborhood raises
> serious moral, health, environmental, and engineering concerns by the
> Central New York community. The City of Syracuse has proposed that an
> underground storage option be built to more successfully eliminate
> overflows, avoid using dangerous chemicals and preserve both the
> integrity of Onondaga Creek and the residential neighborhood.
>
> * The City of Syracuse was excluded from the decision making
> process of finding a solution to sewage overflows, despite the fact
> that the location of proposed sites involved City-owned land. In
> 2001, the Syracuse Common Council voted unanimously to refuse to
> cooperate with the County's plans and refused to sell the land needed
> to build the County's proposed chlorine plant at Midland Avenue. The
> County has since filed suit against the City in Federal District Court
> in an attempt to override the will of the City and the NY State
> eminent domain laws, thereby attempting to take the land through the
> fiat of the court. To date, no ruling has been issued by Federal
> Judge McAvoy on the case.
>
> * The National NAACP is preparing an environmental racism
> complaint to be filed in Federal Court demonstrating prejudicial
> processes in the Onondaga Lake Cleanup effort, namely those
> surrounding the County's decision making to locate a chlorine plant at
> Midland Avenue, an African American neighborhood, while empolying less
> invasive technology and a more open process for projects at other
> locales within the County. As a result of community organizing, 77
> residents living within blocks of the proposed site signed affidavit
> declarations in support of the NAACP suit.
>
>
> For Additional Information, Please Contact:
>
> Zac Moore
> 315-476-7475
> 315-476-4523 (fax)
>
> Syracuse United Neighbors (SUN)
> 1540 S. Salina Street
> Syracuse, NY 13205
> sun@dreamscape.com
>
>
> For information updates, please join the following listserv
> by sending a blank email to the following address:
>
> midland-solidarity-subscribe@lists.riseup.net
>
>
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