AAEA-NY Director Testifies At DEC Waste Siting Hearing

AAEA-NY Director Dan Durett participated in the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC) public hearing for the Draft New York State Hazardous Waste Facility Siting Plan (“The Siting Plan”) and the Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS). Some of his comments are listed below:

First, there is a need for greater involvement from the African-American, and other impacted communities as the DEC moves forward on this issue, not only in public hearings or the solicitation of written comments, but also, and perhaps more importantly, during the various implementation processes that result from these activates.

Second, we are concerned with the major finding that “Before 2002, New York imported more hazardous waste for management than it exported. Since 2002, New York has exported more hazardous waste than it has imported.” We would question whether transferred waste is being sent to communities of concern to AAEA-NY?

Third, we ask DEC to review its observation that states: “Based on the history of hazardous waste management facility capacity and hazardous waste generation trends, it is reasonable to conclude that the private sector will continue to provide sufficient, needed capacity for New York State generated hazardous wastes. (See Chapter 6.)

Finally, we applaud the inclusion of the statement in the draft document that:"Preventing and reducing hazardous waste generation is a top priority for the Department and the State, as mandated by the preferred hazardous waste management hierarchy (ECL 27-0105.) This approach will continue to be used to guide all hazardous waste management policies and decisions of the Department, including permitting and other regulatory activities."

FULL STATEMENT