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Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Attorney's analysis: 'fugitive emissions' heighten Goodyear cancer risk
An analysis conducted by an attorney who formerly represented plant workers suggests emissions of a known chemical carcinogen from the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. facility in Niagara Falls may be much worse than state regulators have previously suggested. The analysis by attorney Steve Wodka, as first reported by the Buffalo News on Sunday, takes into account so-called 'fugitive emissions,' which include leaks and other points of exit that result in the organic chemical ortho-toluidine escaping from the site while bypassing smokestacks. Wodka's analysis, which relied on data Goodyear provided to the state and the federal Environmental Protection Agency, suggests total pollution, including chemicals released from smokestacks and fugitive emissions, could be 400 times higher than the state's acceptable limits. Wodka outlined his findings while expressing serious concerns about the potential impact of the chemical's release on the surrounding neighborhood in an April 8 letter sent to Julie Barrett O'Neil, regional director of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. 'The State of New York has a moral obligation, if not a legal duty, to inform the hundreds of families that live within the areas impacted by the real world current combination of both stack and fugitive emissions, and the parents of the children who attend the Cataract Elementary School, that their health is at risk from the emissions from the nearby Goodyear plant,' Wodka wrote to O'Neil. Studies have shown O-T contributed to cases of bladder cancer among the workers at the Goodyear plant in the Falls. Emissions standards for the chemical's release in New York are supposed to follow the state's Annual Guideline Concentration, which is .02 micrograms per cubic meter. Last September, WBFO, in collaboration with Public Health Watch and Inside Climate News, first reported that the plant, located off 56th Street in the LaSalle section of the city, has been emitting ortho-toluidine and another pollutant, diphenylamine, known as DPA, at levels 1,000% higher than what state regulators deem safe. WBFO and its reporting partners cited a July 2023 notice of violation issued to Goodyear by the DEC that informed the company of its failure to control the emissions. The notice focused on two pollution-control devices that failed to properly control the emission of the pollutants. The news outlet reported estimates that the site has been releasing pollutants at higher levels than allowed by the state for at least 15 years. Earlier this year, the DEC entered into a consent order with Goodyear in which the company agreed to install temporary pollution control measures to reduce stack emissions by April 10. Under the order, Goodyear is required to have permanent pollution controls installed by Oct. 31, 2026. The DEC and Goodyear continue to insist emissions from the plant pose 'no imminent public health risk to the community.' 'At Goodyear, the health and safety of our associates and the communities in which we work is our top priority,' Goodyear said in a statement released by a spokesperson. 'The DEC and New York State health authorities have publicly stated that historical emission limits are 'currently protective of the surrounding community's air quality' and 'there is no risk to the community' based on their modeling.' In his letter to O'Neil, Wodka pointed to modeling done as part of Goodyear's 2018 air permit application and its proposed 2023 protocol for plant operations. He noted that the company identified 13 emissions sources, which he described as stacks, that were emitting O-T into the air from the Falls plant. He also noted last year's DEC modeling that showed the extent of the plume from the 13 sources. He said neither Goodyear nor the DEC has ever modeled or even proposed to model the 'real-world combination' of both the 13 O-T emission sources and the plant's fugitive emissions. In his letter, Wodka noted that the most recent data available from the EPA's toxic release inventory indicated that Goodyear reported in 2023 emissions totaling 1,344 pounds of O-T into the air in the Falls. Of that, he said, 133 pounds, or 10% resulted from stack emissions, with the remainder, 1,211 pounds, or 90%, representing fugitive emissions. A plume map generated by the DEC showed the extent of the cloud of emissions coming from the plant and its impact on the surrounding neighborhood. When fugitive emissions are added to develop a similar air dispersion model, Wodka said the results show a wider area of impact that extends as far as '71st Street and Niagara Falls Boulevard, to Buffalo Avenue on the south, west more than a mile past the intersection of Packard Road and Hyde Park Boulevard, and to the north beyond Niagara Falls Boulevard.' Wodka described Cataract Elementary School, located on Girard Avenue, as being 'well within' the plume that is above the state safety limit of .02 micrograms per cubic meter. 'After more than 35 years of studies and testing, the workers in the plant know, or should know, of the risk to their health from their exposure at the plant. However, the residents have never been told,' Wodka wrote.
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Residents concerned about Goodyear plant urged to get active
Jan. 30—Niagara Falls residents with concerns about the release of a known chemical carcinogen from the Goodyear Rubber & Tire Co. plant off 56th Street were urged Thursday to get organized, get active and get vocal. Representatives from six environmental and community advocacy groups held an informational meeting at New Hope Baptist Church where they encouraged about 50 attendees to contact their elected officials to tell them to take action to protect public health in the neighborhood where Goodyear operates. "It is time for us to set up a coalition and that coalition is each and every one of you that are here," said Renae Kimble, president of the Niagara Falls Chapter of the NAACP. The primary concern remains the plant's emission of Ortho-Toluidine, a chemical used in the production of tires that has been linked to incidences of bladder cancer among workers in the past. While the state changed its guidelines to reduce the allowable output of the chemical in 2021, the facility has for years operated under earlier, less stringent standards. DEC officials contend, based on existing data, that the situation does not pose an "imminent" health risk to neighboring home and business owners. Advocates for changes inside the plant aren't buying it. "We call on our government agencies and officials to protect our community now before it is too late," Kimble said. "It should not be about dollars and cents. Our health is paramount, more than anything else." The World Health Organization classified O-T as a known human carcinogen in 2008. The state's 2021 release requirements for the chemical classified it as a "high toxicity contaminant." According to the federal Center for Disease Control, O-T exposure can cause bladder cancer, anemia, dizziness, headaches, confusion, eye, skin and breathing irritation as well as skin lesions. Under previous O-T limits, Goodyear was allowed to emit up to 5,000 pounds of the material into the air per year. Under the 2021 limits, the company's output should have been reduced to no more than 100 pounds per year. In 2022 and 2023, the company reported that it released 1,244 pounds and 1,263 pounds of O-T, respectively. In September, the DEC released a plume map showing a roughly half-mile area around the plant where the chemical is being released into the air. Critics argue that the data used by the agency to generate the map is flawed as it is based on results from just two of 13 stacks on-site. They also maintain that the DEC failed to take into account so-called "fugitive" emissions, which include leaks from pipes and other equipment and ventilation systems. Kelly Cloyd, a retired DEC geologist who attended Thursday's meeting, said the most recent tests done by Goodyear in 2022 were rejected by the DEC because they were not performed in keeping with guidelines set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. As a result, he said, the DEC is working with inaccurate information and that the true impact on the community may prove to be much higher following updated testing and a more accurate accounting of "fugitive" emissions. "One of the big problems with where we are is we really don't know what the community's been exposed to," Cloyd said. Earlier this month, the DEC entered into a consent order with Goodyear that will require the company to install temporary pollution control devices next month and permanent control measures by October 2026. The agreement allows Goodyear to perform additional stack testing only after the controls have been implemented. "One of the things we've asked for that DEC has not demanded from Goodyear is stack testing prior to the installation of the equipment so we have some idea of what people have been exposed to," Cloyd said. "That seems kind of critical to me." Organizers of Thursday's meeting urged residents in attendance to follow their lead and contact Gov. Kathy Hochul's office to encourage her to direct the DEC to amend the consent order. They want the DEC to require Goodyear to immediately install temporary pollution controls and to commit to the installation of permanent equipment to reduce O-T emissions by 90% as soon as possible. They also want state regulators to mandate new stack testing in keeping with EPA guidelines before any new pollution control measures come online. "We're asking that the equipment be installed in two months, not in the two years that the DEC has recently given Goodyear," said Matteo Anello, who has lived in his family home on 56th Street just east of the plant for decades. A trio of local elected officials attended Thursday's meeting, including Falls lawmakers Donta Myles and Brian Archie and Niagara County Legislator Jeffrey Elder. All three expressed willingness to join residents in pushing state officials to address local concerns about the plant's operation. "It's going to take a collective effort from all of our local governing bodies," Myles said. Elder said he intends to bring the issue up for consideration at a future county legislature meeting. "When we are collectively together, we can make things happen," Elder said.
