ENVIRONMENT
Protesters demand Tonawanda Coke cut emissions
DEC study found dangerously high levels of benzene
Published: October 08, 2009, 12:30 am
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About 75 people gathered for a rally Wednesday near Tonawanda Coke, demanding a meeting with the foundry’s owner and a steep reduction in cancer-causing benzene emissions that a state environmental study concluded in June were as much as 75 times the recommended limit.
Those on hand included several people who live near Tonawanda Coke Corp. and have cancer or other health ailments, or know others who do.
“We are here today because we’re saying, ‘Enough is enough.’ We’re not going to take this anymore,” said Jackie James-Creedon, who attributed her fibromyalgia to benzene.
“We have asked [Tonawanda Coke owner] J. D. Crane three times for a meeting, and three times he’s rejected us. So today, we’re saying, ‘J. D. Crane, you’re not coming to us, we’re coming to you,’ ” James-Creedon said.
Tonawanda Coke did not respond to interview requests by The Buffalo News.
James-Creedon, founder of the Clean Air Coalition of Western New York, which organized the rally, held up a plastic bucket she and others began using to take air samples six years ago.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation’s yearlong study found dangerously high levels of benzene, a major carcinogen.
“We have proven results that there is benzene in the air, and my residents in the 10th District and throughout Grand Island, Riverside and Kenmore are breathing poisonous air,” said Erie County Legislator Michele Iannello.
“J. D Crane needs to reach out to make this area more environmentally friendly.”
Signs included one by Lesley Horowitz that read, “J. D. Crane You Killed My Family.”
Horowitz, whose parents have lived near Tonawanda Coke for 40 years, said her father has Stage 4 colon cancer and her mother suffers from chronic asthma.
msommer@buffnews.com
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