Published: January 24, 2008 09:04 pm      

ENVIRONMENT: DEC to announce funding for Lake Ontario

Money comes from settlement of lawsuit with Occidental Chemical Corp.

For years, dangerous chemicals from Occidental Chemical Corp.’s Buffalo Avenue facility were discharged into the Niagara River, causing pollution to the river and Lake Ontario.

Among the affected parties were recreational fishermen, who had to deal with advisories because of contaminants in fish in the Lake Ontario system.

In June 2006, Oxy agreed to pay the state $12 million over four years as a result of those damages, according to a release from the state Department of Environmental Conservation. The money will fund projects to improve recreational fishing along Lake Ontario and its tributaries.

“This is a tremendously valuable legal agreement for Lake Ontario and the people of the region,” said Gov. Eliot Spitzer, then the state attorney general, in a release. “The money from this agreement will help restore the recreational fishery of Lake Ontario and its tributaries.”

State DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis is coming to the Niagara Power Project in Lewiston today to discuss how that money will be spent. He’ll make his announcement at 10:30 a.m. A DEC spokesperson declined to discuss the specifics of the announcement.

The settlement represents the final claim in a lawsuit the state filed against Occidental’s predecessor, Hooker Chemical, in 1983.

“(Occidental) is pleased to resolve this long-standing case with New York in a cooperative manner that will improve natural resources,” said Richard Kline, a spokesperson from Oxy’s corporate office.

Oxy has also worked with the state over the years to design and implement an advanced remedial program at the Buffalo Avenue plant, Kline said.

The settlement “addresses the damages caused as a result of the discharge of dangerous chemicals from the company’s main plant on Buffalo Avenue in Niagara Falls and from other sites and facilities either owned or operated by Occidental,” a DEC release said. “(It) reflects an assessment of the harm suffered by the state’s residents as a result of the fish consumption advisories necessitated by the presence of chemicals in the fish of Lake Ontario.”

A DEC spokesperson declined to discuss specifics of the announcement, saying they would be revealed today.

The money will fund improvements across the state, including boat launches and marinas and repairing fish spawning habitat. In all, the plan will fund 42 projects.