This is an incredible interview about the Tonawanda Coke and it’s Benzine levels. For a couple years Iannello claimed that the high benzine levels were coming from the Grand Island Tolls and the idling cars. Hmmm, what happened to that? I guess her connection to the Clean Air Coalition which at this point is focused on the Tonawanda Coke is where she will float this year. Is the Grand Island Toll pollution gone? Hardly. Is the problems at the Tonawanda landfill gone? NO! Now with Sam Hoyt at her side she is once again running for reelection and will grasp onto anything so she can get in the headlines as she struggles this year.
I find it sickening that one year she was all over the landfill even went door to door with Rick Davis getting signatures to force action on the landfill. What happened to that effort? NOTHING! NOTHING! She used it to get reelected and then the issue went away. Same thing with the Tolls. Just as Rick Davis did and he is running for Mayor of the City?
Pointing the finger at one business is just wrong. Focus, they have to focus and find out exactly what the problem is. This year the issue de jour is the Tonawanda Coke. Will she and the rest simply forget all about this as soon as the election is over? Most likely. We can only hope that one of these times they will follow thru and stop playing games with peoples lives, I get sick of watching it and of course we have no power at all to pursue them. I have been trying for years to get the deserved attention on the landfill.
The constant questioning has fueled media reports, which have in turn fueled more debate. Tom Gentile, who heads the air toxins section of the DEC’s Division of Air Resources in Albany, cited recent media reports he says were misleading. Air monitors placed in the area surrounding the plant found levels of benzene 75 times higher than recommended levels. Contrary to the reports, however, Gentile notes that figure is an aggregate of the entire region, an industrial corridor that is home to 52 air pollution-permitted facilities.
Gentile is careful to note that Tonawanda Coke is not the sole contributor to that eye-popping number.
“The measurements we took at Grand Island Boulevard was 75 times higher,” Gentile said. “Is that all attributable to Tonawanda Coke? No.”
Vehicles idling at the Grand Island toll booths, gas stations and the other 51 air-permitted facilities in the area also contribute to that figure. So while Tonawanda Coke produces a large portion of the benzene, it is by no means the sole culprit, the DEC says.
Gentile also said the guideline, which sets a goal of reducing cancers related to benzene to one person in 1 million is a tall order. As far as the EPA is concerned, the risk for an area has to be at 100 cases in 1 million before it becomes unacceptable. The local benzene levels provide for an estimated cancer rate of 75 in 1 million, but that’s counting every car, fuel pump and industrial plant in the region.
Tonawanda Coke isn’t the only facility that has endured scrutiny. The DEC did complete inspections of the nearby NOCO and Sunoco tanks since gasoline is another large source of benzene. The agency found that Sunoco runs the vapors that come off their tanks through activated carbon, pulling the product back into the system as a cost-saving measure. While NOCO has no such system in place, the emissions measured from the company’s tanks were negligible, Sitzman said.
“There is still benzene unaccounted for coming from some place,” he said.
via Tonawanda News – TOWN OF TONAWANDA: Coke plant owner goes on record with Tonawanda News.
