Million-to-One odds that newly proposed Glynn dock site contaminated

(c. 1895) The ‘High Bank’ industrial section of Niagara Falls was located along the banks of the gorge directly north of the current Rainbow Bridge. Hydroelectrical tailraces and effluent point sources (chemical laden water that was used to spin turbines) overflow into the river. Because there were no environmental laws then, industry could dump anything they wanted into the river. How much of this harmful, decades old chemical residue remains on the proposed dock site is a mystery. A transparent environmental study is required.

This Maid of the Mist rendering showing where the proposed boat docks will go also shows something else: the condition of the gorge above the proposed docks. The dark stains (called ‘weeps’ and ‘seeps’) are literally oozing out of the gorge wall. (See close-up image above.) These weeps and seeps are most likely laden with toxic chemicals from the longtime industrial use of the site.

Proposed Maid of the Mist boat dock.

Last week, during his first visit to Niagara Falls since taking office, Governor Cuomo announced - with much fanfare from the media and our elected officials - he was saving the Maid of the Mist Corporation. At his press conference, Cuomo called his decision to forego issuing a formal request for proposals to conduct the lucrative boat-tour operations on the U.S. side of the falls “just smart.” Cuomo said “it’s going to be smart for Maid of the Mist, smart for the city, smart for tourism...It’s actually going to generate more dollars.”

In one sense, Cuomo is correct. The announced terms of the agreement between NY State Parks, the New York Power Authority, and the Maid of the Mist call for expected license payments over the remaining 30-years of the 40-year exclusive contract to be triple those of the original no-bid award given to Maid of the Mist in 2002. However, by failing to allow competitive bidding for the rights to operate boat-tours in the U.S., Cuomo may have left tens of millions of dollars on the table.
Christopher M. Glynn, president of the Maid of the Mist Corp., was full of praise for Cuomo’s actions. “I want to thank Governor Cuomo and his administration for their support of the Maid of the Mist’s continued operation...The agreement that we’ve reached with State Parks and the New York Power Authority will allow us to continue these unparalleled boat tours in the years ahead while contributing additional benefits for the people of Western New York,” said Glynn.

The three-way deal is crucial in providing Maid of the Mist access to the former Schoellkopf Power Plant site to construct new storage and repair facilities for their boats in the U.S. after failing to secure the continued rights to access the facilities on the Canadian side of the gorge. “The scarcity of nearby sites suitable for the storage of the vessels on the lower Niagara River threatened the continued operation of the Maid of the Mist, leading to the agreement for the Schoellkopf site,” said Gil C. Quiniones, NYPA president and chief executive officer. “The next steps will be to undertake environmental reviews for the necessary permitting and then the construction of the new winter storage site.”

For many, what’s worse than what might have been left on the table in terms of revenue to New York State is what might be lurking under the ground of this newly proposed winter storage site. “I’m not a business naysayer; I’m not trying to cause harm to my community. However, what happened with the decision by Governor Cuomo last week is the epitome of political expediency,” said Lou Ricciuti, a local environmental contamination expert.

According to Ricciuti, by giving Maid of the Mist access to the Schoellkopf site the Governor basically decided that “it’s full-speed ahead and damn the torpedoes!”

“I don’t care if it’s the State Parks or the Governor telling you this, you can’t do a proper testing on that site in under a year,” said Ricciuti. The major concern for Ricciuti is that the project timeline for construction must be completed by the end of 2013 when Maid of the Mist loses access to the Canadian storage facilities. Ricciuti is insistent that “we need to make sure the site is not simply deemed ‘clean by proclamation.’“ The proposed site and adjacent properties all have a history of industrial activity which leads Ricciuti to worry that a proper environmental investigation will give way to political concerns. “We may be potentially exposing workers and visitors to hazardous substances and exposing future generations to costly legal and cleanup costs. This needs to be done properly,” said Ricciuti.

Several industrial companies have operated on the Schoellkopf site over the last century including Bell Aircraft and the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa). “We know the site contained an aluminum smelter and Bell Aircraft was known to have produced exotic metals containing radioactive material,” said Ricciuti. “First we have to know what we are looking for to even begin proper environmental testing.” It is likely that the collapse of the Schoellkopf Power Plant in 1956 left behind environmental toxins as well. According to Ricciuti, “the former Power Station would have contained contaminated oil. It was constructed and collapsed long before stringent environmental regulations existed and the area would have been saturated by the PCB laden oils used in the electrical equipment.” PCBs are classified as a possible human carcinogen.

According to the Governor’s press release, NYPA will seek lead agency status for analysis under the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQR) of the planned capital improvements and the Maid of the Mist will be responsible for hiring any consultants necessary to support their assessment. If construction of the docks and other proposed enhancements on the site are determined to have potentially significant adverse environmental impact then the project would likely have trouble meeting the current deadline. “If they do a serious environmental review then I don’t see how this project can be completed by the end of 2013,” said Ricciuti.

Ricciuti believes that given the history of electrochemical and industrial activity on the site it would be beyond belief that a negative declaration – meaning no environmental impact - could be issued. “If anyone says it’s clean – and I’m not a gambling type of guy – the chances of that gorge being clean are less than a million-to-one. There is a 99.999 % chance - a near certainty – that the area below the rim of the gorge is in need of an environmental cleanup,” said Ricciuti.

In a region where almost every project is delayed and made prohibitively expensive due to extensive environmental testing and remediation of hazardous materials, it would certainly prove fortunate for the Glynn family if this proposed site got a clean bill of health. Ricciuti maintains, however, that “even the narrowest testing of just the materials we are aware of would take a year to perform. You have to test multiple locations across the entire area. If you suspect someone leaked oil on your property and then tested a far remote corner of it rather than around your garage, you might conveniently not find what you were supposed to be looking for.”

Ricciuti ultimately says that if the assessment comes back negative as a result of a less than thorough analysis, then “disrupting the rock and soil at this site might result in disturbing any currently sequestered material trapped in the rock and place it back into the biological uptake.” If this happens as a result of inadequate testing, Ricciuti fears it will certainly become a legal nightmare. “People working [for Maid of the Mist] and the people involved in constructing the new facilities on that site [for Glynn] will be exposed to repeated doses of contamination.

“Long-term workers can expect to receive chronic doses of contamination that could potentially affect their health and their loved ones too,” said Ricciuti.