Published: October 03, 2007 12:50 pm      

LANDFILL: Inaction draws residents' outrage

Do something.

That’s the message Christopher Thomas, Casper Hoffmann and Joyce Hogenkamp sent to the City of Tonawanda Council on Tuesday night.

They all want more done with the city’s 800-pound gorilla that is the Town of Tonawanda landfill and spoke to the council at its meeting to urge city officials to hold accountable everyone involved in remediation of the landfill, which holds radioactive waste from the Manhattan Project.

Hogenkamp, a former Tonawanda City School District Board of Education member, told the council that three teachers from Riverview Elementary School, which neighbors the landfill, have been diagnosed with cancer within the past year.

“We have an immediate problem,” she said. “What we are sitting on is a timebomb between the landfill, Spaulding (Fibre) and what’s sitting down in Gastown. We need a city-wide health study. The grant money is out there for these studies.”

Thomas, who is co-chair of the citizens group CURE, or Clean Up Riverview’s Environment, asked the council to look into a federal Environmental Protection Agency grant called a Priority Pollutant Scan, which will tell residents exactly what contamination is on their property.

Thomas said Buffalo paid for the grant for the Hickory Woods subdivision.

“To look into options like this would be a very proactive approach from our elected officials,” he said. “We have to take a more proactive approach,” Thomas said, adding that the entire community needs to work together to hold accountable the state Department of Environmental Conservation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — the two agencies responsible for determining whose liable for cleaning up the landfill. “If they don’t answer a letter, hold their feet to the fire,” he said.

Mayor Ron Pilozzi said the city will investigate the EPA grant, adding that “we’ll keep banging away” at the issue. He said he has received more communication from residents on the landfill than any other issue in the city and that “to have three contaminated sites within three square miles is a tough, tough thing.”

Hoffmann, who lives on Hackett Drive, was more direct with his comments.

“You people gotta do something now. ... We got people dying (from cancer) down there,” he said.

Hoffmann said he’s been begging the city “for 10 months” to file an injunction against the town to stop all work at the landfill. The work, which involves moving garbage from one end to the other, has caused his whole house to shake.

Hoffmann’s comments clearly annoyed council member Blake Boyle, who was the target of a derogatory word from Hoffmann at a meeting back in February during which they discussed the landfill.

“How are we supposed to say stop and cease when it’s not our property?” Boyle asked Hoffmann in a raised voice.

Hogenkamp then got up to speak again and Boyle tried to silence her by saying that each resident is allowed to speak once; he also tried to quiet her by saying that residents must keep their comments to three minutes. Council President Carl Zeisz, however, allowed her to continue based on the severity of the issue.

She later said she felt Boyle’s behavior was “totally disrespectful to a taxpayer and a resident,” and she said she expects an apology from Boyle.

Hogenkamp said the majority of people who live on Hackett Drive came from Buffalo and out of state, because of the street’s proximity to the General Motors plant, and they were not told when they bought their homes that they were located next to a contaminated landfill.

“They had no clue what was there,” she said, adding that the city should feel a sense of responsibility for the residents. “Sue the city” was Boyle’s response.

“All we’re asking you people to do is to take the necessary steps to protect us,” Hogenkamp said.

Councilman Rick Davis advised residents to start flooding the DEC’s Air Quality office at 851-7130 with phone calls to keep that agency on top of the issue. Councilwoman Colleen Perkins called Tuesday’s meeting a good one in that residents brought serious concerns for the council to consider. She advised residents to provide her with leads to Internet research to further along clean up of the landfill.

“It takes all of you to help us,” she said.

Contact reporter David J. Hill at 693-1000, ext. 115.