The EPA and the State DEC will hold an open house regarding the recent EPA Human Health Risk Assessment July 8 from 6:30pm to 8:30pm in the Martha Eddy Room at the New York State Fair Grounds.
Members of both agencies will answer questions from the public. To submit your questions in advance, write Robert Nunes nunes.robert@epa.gov .
Recently Dan Maffei’s has introduced legislation:
Maffei’s “Onondaga Lake Restoration Act” would shift oversight and most federal funding of the lake cleanup from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has guided the cleanup since 1999, to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
“It’s about bringing voices onto the lake that have been shut out too long, like the Onondaga Nation, local scientists and other experts that we have right here in our back yard,” said Mike Whyland, Maffei’s chief of staff
However according to Jim Walsh:
….. he also believes that towns along the lakeshore — including Camillus, where Honeywell wants to bury dredge spoils from the lake — should have a voting spot on the council. For now, Syracuse would be the only local municipality with a vote.
This smells of something worse than the lake.
Found a good post over at Onondaga-Lake-Initiatives.com (One of Honeywell’s websites) that has some updates regarding the Onondaga Lake Clean up as well as future Wastebed 13 plans. Besides information, the post has some excellent photos that give an overview of the site, pipeline plans, the wall construction, Wastebed 13 geotube / liner / monitoring and containment.
The plan is to start prepping the site and build the water treatment plant this summer.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) today released an updated design for the restoration of Onondaga Lake. The lake remediation plan, issued by the DEC and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, calls for a combination of dredging and capping—environmental cleanup methods that will remediate the contamination in sediments and water.
The updated design describes how material will be pumped from the lake and managed within a containment area, as well as how the water that drains from the material will be collected and sent to a new water treatment plant.
Comprehensive efforts to protect the public’s health and safety are an important part of the work to restore the lake. Health and safety plans are reviewed by DEC and the New York State Department of Health and are incorporated into every stage of the restoration. On June 18, DEC released the Health and Safety plan for the construction of the containment area to hold materials removed from the lake, as well as the initial work for the water treatment plant. Community health and safety plans for operational activities will be available for public review and comment in the summer of 2011.
Honeywell has made great progress on the cleanup of Onondaga Lake. Two phases of the underground barrier wall are complete. The wall, located along portions of I-690 in Geddes, prevents contaminated groundwater from reaching the lake. Work will continue throughout the summer.
The EPA released the Human Health Risk Assessment that evalutes the public safety of moving and disposing of sediment from Onondaga Lake to Wastebed 13. The assessment found no significant health risks to local residents.
The document is over 30 pages with some rather technical details, but here are some highlights.
In response to a recent request from the community and elected officials, EPA has prepared this supplemental HHRA to identify any potential risks posed by sediment management and dewatering activities which will take place at the SCA. This assessment incorporated numerous conservative assumptions, and indicates all potential risks are within levels identified by EPA asacceptable.
….future scenarios were intended to represent the reasonable maximum exposure potential and both assume individuals of all ages could be exposed. As such, these risk estimatesare likely higher than risks that would likely be experienced by most receptors.
All resulting risk estimates and hazard indices were within levels identified by EPA as acceptable.The finding of acceptable risk estimates through application of these health protective assumptions, indicates that the plans for the SCA will not result in unacceptable risks for the surrounding community.
Read the entire Human Health Risk Assessment for Wastebed 13 here.
The draft Onondaga Lake Capping and Dredge Area Initial Design (dated December 2009) has been submitted by Honeywell and reviewed by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This document provides initial design information on the capping and dredging components of the Onondaga Lake remedy. The design document and NYSDEC’s comment letter associated with the document (dated April 25, 2010) are available for review. DEC
The entire PDF Document is 5 MB but worth a look. You can get it here.
It shows some detail on where the lake will be dredged and capped as long as an overview of the capping procedure for Wastebed 13. There is also some information regarding the retaining walls being placed along 690. The dreding project is intended to begin in May 2012.
They are looking for participation in community health and safety plans relevant to capping and dredging activities will include:
• Site Security & Community Health and Safety Plan
• Traffic Management Plan
• Navigational Protection
• Noise Abatement Plan.
Federal environmental officials expect to complete within three weeks an assessment of the risk to human health posed by burying Onondaga Lake sediment in Wastebed 13 in Camillus.
Robert Nunes, the Environmental Protection Agency’s project manager for the Onondaga Lake cleanup, said the assessment was begun two weeks ago in anticipation of a request earlier this week by U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer and Rep. Dan Maffei.
The EPA, New York State DEC and Dept of Health have release a 21 page FAQ document regarding the Lake Clean up and Wastebed 13.
The entire document is here Onondaga Lake Dredging Project Sediment Consolidation Area (SCA) at Wastebed 13
Here are some highlights:
Q&As Fact Sheet regarding the DEC project in Camillus at Wastebed 13, stating these conclusions.
“The plan to dredge Onondaga Lake and place the sediments in an SCA (Wastebed 13) was selected by EPA and NYSDEC in July 2005 and is fully protective of human health and the environment.” Pg. 1
“Most importantly, disposing the sediments in the SCA will not impact human
health or the environment.” Pg. 1
“The selection of Wastebed 13 (in Camillus) was included in the federal Consent Decree approved by the federal court in January 2007 and was announced in a public fact sheet.” Pg. 3
“… the SCA is being designed to prevent human exposures to any contaminated sediment…” Pg. 8
“The construction, operations, and closure of the SCA will be protective of the
nearest residences and the community.” Pg. 12
“The SCA is being designed and will be constructed and operated so that
groundwater will not be impacted.” Pg. 14
“The SCA will last indefinitely. It is designed with several redundancies to
ensure that the containment is permanent.” Pg. 16
“New York State Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis celebrated this week’s 40th anniversary of Earth Day by highlighting progress in the Syracuse area at a news conference today on Onondaga Lake.
New York State Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis celebrated this week’s 40th anniversary of Earth Day by highlighting progress in the Syracuse area at a news conference today on Onondaga Lake.
“Forty years ago, there was virtually no positive news about Onondaga Lake,” said Commissioner Grannis. “That’s not the case today. While much remains to be done to achieve the long-term recovery we all desire, this anniversary gives New Yorkers a chance to take stock of the environmental gains we’ve made.”
Commissioner Grannis, who helped organize the first Earth Day in New York City in 1970, is touring sites around the state that illustrate the significant environmental progress New York has made over the past 40 years. The commissioner noted that at Onondaga Lake:
Phosphorus, chlorides and ammonia levels in the lake have decreased substantially.
65 species of fish were recently documented in the lake, up from the 9-12 species counted in the 1970s. In 2007, the Bassmasters Majors tournament was held here.
Progress continues on cleaning up industrial waste sites that have impacted the lake.
The Onondaga Audubon Society has designated it an “Important Bird Area.” Sightings of Bald Eagles, ospreys, kingfishers and Great Egrets have increased.
A groundbreaking plan was launched last year to allow Onondaga County and the City of Syracuse to use cutting-edge “green” technology to attack the long-standing problem of wastewater overflow into the lake. The aggressive strategy could help the county and city become national leaders in the green infrastructure movement.
A 2007 report found that the lake’s water quality is the best it’s been in 40 years.”
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation and the NYS Department of Health have released a 21-page document of Frequently Asked Questions about the Camillus SCA (sediment containment area) portion of the Onondaga Lake cleanup project. Among the findings of the three government agencies: “Most importantly, disposing the sediments in the SCA (in Camillus) will not impact human health or the environment.” The document has been made available at the Town of Camillus website below.
“The attached document provides answers in response to numerous questions raised by the public recently regarding the plan to dredge Onondaga Lake sediments and pipe them to Wastebed 13, where they will be dewatered and permanently stored in an engineered Sediment Consolidation Area (SCA). The answers were prepared by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) in consultation with the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Important highlights of the project are listed below, and more specific details are provided in the answers to FAQs provided in the attached document.”
The DEC is forming a community workgroup regarding issues surrounding the lake clean up and the Camillus SCA. If interested, the deadline to apply is April 5, 2010.
“The NYSDEC is forming a Sediment Consolidation Area Community Participation Working Group (SCA-CPWG) in response to a recommendation from the Lead CPWG whose members are focusing on all aspects of the Onondaga Lake bottom cleanup (see below for who to contact for more information on the Lead CPWG).
The SCA-CPWG will be an autonomous group, comprised of seven to nine volunteers from the Onondaga Lake community, working together and in concert with the Lead CPWG and NYSDEC. The group will foster meaningful public engagement in the construction, operation and monitoring of the Sediment Consolidation Area sited for Wastebed 13 in the Town of Camillus.”
