10/8/07
Environmental Justice in Onondaga County
Pollution and the contamination of bodies of water throughout the United States has been a prevalent and ongoing problem since early in American history. Hazardous to animals and plants that live in these lakes, the people who need and drink the water, and the surrounding neighborhoods, there has not been enough attention called to fixing these problems nor has there been enough effort made to fix them either. The Superfund is an ongoing project which is funded by the companies being held responsible for the site defamation and supplemented by the government to help clean these sites. But the Superfund is not being enforced strictly enough and there is little attempt being made to correct this problem. The Superfund, if working to its full capacity, is a great tool in helping clean these areas and has worked well for a number of areas but more often than not it has fallen short as being a realistic answer to a vast problem. Although attempts are being made, not enough is getting accomplished. The Superfund needs to more strictly impose its laws and make them more efficient for an improved functioning system. Its focus also needs to be narrowed to those with the largest problems as opposed to dabbling in the scene of all polluted areas.
According to the Christian Science Monitor article Superfund program: a smaller cleanup rag by Brad Knickerbocker, hazardous waste has been injected in to the soil, bodies of water, and air all across the United States since the Industrial Revolution. This led to the establishment of a national Superfund in 1980, which is a government funded program that had attempted to clean up these polluted sites. The fund is practically bankrupt after cleaning up only 886 sites since its beginning, leaving 1,203 in need of restoration (Knickerbocker 1-3). The number of sites itself causes a huge detriment to the capability of the Superfund program. The program was originally imagined to provide relief to twenty to thirty sites, but now this number has increased to an exuberant amount (Meyers). This is detrimental to the effort of the Superfund in that with so many sites to clean up and so many different problems to worry about, money is being stretched too thinly and resources are falling short. For a site to be restored and hazardous waste to be cleaned, each individual site needs more attention which is why the original goal of a few sights would have been more efficient.
Onondaga Lake is one of those sights which needs greater attention. Considered one of the, if not the worst polluted lakes in the nation, it has been contaminated since 1884 with the establishment of the Allied Chemical Corporation, which later became Honeywell International (Landers 64). Consistently, their multiple plants have discharged waste into the lake infecting it with a great deal of harmful substances. There are a number of various pollutants effecting the lake’s quality of health and a great deal of work needs to be done to restore it. The efforts being made seem to be more of a cover up so it appears that something is being done rather than having anything really accomplished. Broken down into nine sub-sites, or individual areas for its own plan of action for restoration, Honeywell is responsible for the clean up of six of these individual sites (Onondaga Nation). The Environmental Protection Agency and the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) outlined plans for the clean up that held Honeywell responsible (Landers 66). But the plan does not force the industry, which is liable for the vast majority of the pollution, to take enough action to efficiently clean the site. The plan will not effectively remove all the contaminants in Onondaga Lake (Onondaga Nation). The plan put forth by the EPA and DEC need to lay a stronger hand to remove the entirety of the waste in the lake. There is really no point in cleaning up Onondaga Lake only a slight bit because if there are still even a few contaminants in the lake, its still hazardous and harmful.
Attempts at progress are being made. From the 1970s until present day, there have
been a number of lawsuits, studies, and clean ups conducted. The Metropoliton Syracuse Wastewater Treatment Plant, or simply Metro, is located directly on the lake’s shore and has been a contributor to the contamination since the 1920s especially by filtering phosphorous and nitrogen into Onondaga Lake (Landers 70). The 1998 Onondaga Lake Amended Consent Judgment mandates that Metro reduce the concentration of phosphorous waste runoff into the lake (Landers 70). Since then, progress has been made, but it is no where near the authorized reduction. The Metro also introduced the biological aerated filter which has served as a significant factor in the reduction in the levels of ammonia (Landers 71).
Although progress is being made in the restoration of Onondaga Lake, it is not efficient or sudden enough. The negligence of large industries has had a detrimental effect on the lake, inevitably damaging the county of Onondaga. Being notorious for having such a polluted lake does not help the reputation of the county or make it enjoyable or safe for the members of the nearby community. Honeywell and Metro both need to own up to their mistakes and those of their predecessors to completely eliminate the mistakes that have been made. It is vital for these two major industries to not just create good public relations and have agreements on paper to look as though they are striving towards the crackdown of cleaning the lake, rather they need to follow what they agree to and do it in a speedy and efficient manner.
Onondaga Lake continues to be in need of repair. It has been contaminated since the 1880s and it has not let up very much since. Though there are efforts being made to alleviate the most polluted lake in the nation, they are in no way significant enough to
make promising immediate results. The major contributors to this contamination, Honeywell and The Metropolitan Syracuse Wastewater Treatment Plant, need to take a bigger role and make more of an effort to clean up the problems that they caused. The lake and Onondaga community does not deserve the treatment it has been receiving and deserves to be compensated by the correction of the horrid mistakes that were made.
Works Cited
Knickerbocker, Brad. “Superfund Program: A Smaller Cleanup Rag.” The Christian
Science Monitor. (14 Nov 2003). 1 Oct 2007.
Landers, Jay. “New Life for Onondaga Lake.” Civil Engineering (American Society of
Civil Engineers) 76.5 (2006): 64-71,86. Applied Science & Technology. H.W.
Wilson. Syracuse University Library, Syracuse, NY. 1 Oct. 2007.
Meyers, Sheldon. “Real Replaces Ideal as Superfund Matures.” Journal of Applied
Research and Pubic Policy. 11 (1996): 113-117. Social Science. H.W. Wilson.
Syracuse University Library, Syracuse, NY. 1. Oct. 2007.
Onondaga Nation. 2005. Onondaga Nation. 1 Oct 2007.
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