Army Corps to address concerns about Niagara nuclear waste site
LEWISTON — The Army Corps of Engineers says it’s ready to respond to the public’s questions about conditions at a nuclear waste storage site in northwest Niagara County.
The agency plans to hold an information session about the Manhattan Project dump site Wednesday evening in Lewiston.
Meanwhile, members of the site’s volunteer advisory board say they plan to take a more aggressive tack in spreading the word of their ongoing concerns about the agency’s investigation of the Niagara Falls Storage Site.
Members of the Lake Ontario Ordnance Works Restoration Advisory Board, which has been fighting to regain official recognition from federal regulators, say they have decided to create their own forum to discuss the issues rather than rely solely on the government’s established structure for gathering public input.
“The perception of RAB members is that this is just a delay tactic,” Chairman Joseph A. Gardella Jr. said.
The advisory board has been at odds with the Army Corps since the agency began limiting the board’s access to its technical staff and data more than 2z years ago.
Members of the advisory board have scheduled a news conference this afternoon at the Lewiston Public Library to elaborate on their concerns.
They said they believe there are continuing problems in the level of public input reviewed by the Army Corps as the agency moves forward with investigation and cleanup plans.
The discussion planned for today’s news conference will involve the board’s concerns about data it believes are possibly missing from recently released reports, said Paulette Glasgow, of Lewiston, chairwoman of the board’s Outreach Committee.
The Army Corps has invited the public to the Lewiston Senior Center, 4361 Lower River Road, for a session beginning at 6:30 p. m. Wednesday.
Advisory board members still plan to attend and participate in Wednesday’s meeting, Gardella said.
In May, several members of the advisory board peppered corps representatives with questions about the data used in an ongoing evaluation of a landfill containing radioactive material from the Manhattan Project.
Questions were raised about whether the corps has fully examined the status of the site.
In addition to the questions asked that May evening — a total of 52 specific inquiries, as revealed through a Freedom of Information request by The Buffalo News — the corps also has received written comments and questions since the session.
Members of the corps’ project team broke down the questions by category and have amassed responses, spokesman Bruce I. Sanders said in an e-mail.
The answers to be given on Wednesday won’t include responses to the written questions received since the session in May, Sanders said.
“Our goal is to prepare a consolidated and coordinated response that includes not only comments from the general public, but from all parties,” he said.
Corps officials have defended their January decision, which has been challenged by the state attorney general’s office, asserting that the advisory board has no legal standing by stating that they are following federal guidelines.
