In response to the migration of slag

Editor:

Response to Supervisor John Knab on migration of slag to Orangeville:

At what point does it become a matter of personal responsibility to stand up and speak out to preserve the priceless beauty and health of a God-given resource that once irreversibly damaged by corporate and political greed can never be replaced?

Since questions have been raised at a Sheldon July 2009 Town meeting regarding some of the taxpaying citizens of Orangeville, questioning the movement of industrial Waste -- "slag" (and or materials that have been in contact with the slag) --- from former Bethlehem Steel brownfield Lackawanna site dumped into Sheldon agricultural farmfields and recently moved to the Town of Orangeville.

Since the same corporate giant Invenergy is currently attempting to pursue a project in Orangeville despite much local opposition, as evidenced by the well-documented evidence provided to the Town Board at the Orangeville public hearing May 7, 2009, showing negative environmental impacts, alarms were raised in Orangeville, on subsequent witnessing of material from Sheldon access turbine sites being moved to two different sites in Orangeville on Hermitage Road by a local contractor. The controversy over this "slag" from the Bethlehem Steel brownfield site of Lackawanna being moved by Invenergy into Sheldon being well publicized in the fall of 2008.

Orangeville's sister town of Sheldon to the west once shared the pristine beauty that many of us in Orangeville are now zealously protecting after seeing the careless way it was thrown to the corporate wolves for a few pieces of silver by some government bureaucrats and some financially vested landowners. Now after the introduction of industrial-scale wind turbines and high voltage switchyards and transformers to Sheldon, and the dumping of thousands of tons of industrial waste from the 100 year-old industrial steel site into the agricultural fields where food is grown or cattle graze ... we, who wish to preserve the rural character of Orangeville and who value our health, safety and welfare, choose to exercise our rights as a democratic society and therefore stand up and speak out as necessary to preserve this land that is the Orangeville that we love. Because you do not agree with our stance Mr. Supervisor Knab, it does not make good political sense for you to label us as troublemakers at your public meeting for making inquiries from the proper channels, the Department of Environmental Conservation. Consider this: According to Buffalo News article dated July 6, 2009, DEC targets Lackawanna sludge, "Forty pockets of contamination on the site of the former Bethlehem Steel Corp. in Lackawanna are being targeted by the State Department of Environmental Conservation .... According to the DEC, contaminants were found near the former coke plant and the fuel storage and 'Slag Fill' areas, where wastes from steel making operations were spilled or disposed of for many years by Bethlehem Steel. ... "

So you see why concerned Orangeville taxpayers would wonder ... when and where did the DEC clean up and sort through the material from Bethlehem Steel that was mixed together with the topsoil, gravel and slag in the fields of Sheldon ... usually gravel is trucked to special sites for cleaning and acid-washing before being approved for uses ... since the Orangeville local contractor was seen by many people having this material loaded in Sheldon from landowner turbine access road sites, into his labeled company trucks and dumped in two different places that our people observed in Orangeville on Hermitage Road and one being his private acreage site back through a wooded road where the storage is not visible in Orangeville? Is this contractor registered or certified to haul hazardous waste or to conduct environmental clean-ups?

What does he intend to do with this mix? Is he hoping to re-use this questionable material for a possible Orangeville wind project with the same company Invenergy that is attempting to do business in Orangeville? Or will it end up as fill around the area at excavation sites, used as driveways or possibly for fill in some unsuspecting property owner's farm or backyard? Would he be willing to have a full panel of heavy metal testing and for 27 possible contaminants at his expense with an independent firm of the people's choice? And would he open his doors for an environmental audit and disclose where he intends to dump materials obtained from these Sheldon turbine sites?

Cathi Orr and concerned Orangeville taxpayers and property owners Orangeville