NEWFANE
Niagara County fishing spot draws pollution warning
By Aaron Besecker
- NEWS NIAGARA BUREAU
Updated: 05/22/08 12:24 PM
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- Steve Thompson, of Lewiston, fishes at the Town of Newfane Fisherman’s Park on Wednesday. Eighteenmile Creek in the Town of Newfane was recently named an “area of concern.”
A controversial report exploring the possible link between industrial pollution and disease in the Great Lakes region includes two area waterways, one of them a popular Niagara County fishing spot aiming for federal cleanup dollars.
Eighteenmile Creek in the Town of Newfane and the Buffalo River in the City of Buffalo both were named in a recently released draft review of the more than two dozen ecologically degraded zones known as “areas of concern.”
The latest draft of the report, issued earlier this year, does not assert a cause-and-effect relationship between contamination and illness. Instead, government data on toxic releases was amassed along with health indicators in the counties in which concern areas are located.
The report was compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and some critics of the Bush administration believe the administration tried to suppress its release.
Its primary recommendation calls for additional data to be collected.
Cleanup of Eighteenmile Creek would see a major boost if the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency grants a request for $420,000, said Victor F. DiGiacomo Jr., coordinator of the creek’s remedial action plan for the Niagara County Soil and Water Conservation District.
Under the best-case scenario, the federal agency could decide on awarding the funding by the end of the month, DiGiacomo said.
Members of the area’s congressional delegation aren’t sitting still on the issue.
Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport, said she was alarmed by potential connections between pollutants and the health of the surrounding communities.
“It is imperative that we conduct more vigorous research and data collection so we can fully understand the effects of chemical exposure and move rapidly to safeguard public health,” Slaughter said in a statement.
Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo, in February called for a congressional investigation into whether the report was suppressed.
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce is continuing its investigation.
A 2007 draft of the report, in its review of 26 “areas of concern” in the United States, found high infant mortality rates and elevated incidents of breast, colon and lung cancer.
The latest draft includes a revised and shortened conclusion section excluding details about incidents of disease from the previous version.
The International Joint Commission, the body charged with controlling binational waters between the United States and Canada, designated Eighteenmile Creek an “area of concern” in 1985.
Contamination in the creek and the Buffalo River is thought to be from historic industrial dumping.
