Honeywell International, Inc.
Honeywell International Inc. which owns several industrial properties and toxic dumps along the southwest shore of Onondaga Lake. Honeywell and its predecessor companies operated various chemical plants from 1880-1980. The pollution from these operations transformed the lake from its pristine state into the most polluted body of water on this continent. View a timeline of Honeywell’s history on Onondaga lake. In November, 2005 the Onondaga Nation reported on the inadequate ‘cleanup’ plans for just one of Honeywell’s toxic sites. To read the report (.pdf) click here.
Sediment
Every day, about one-half ton of clay and silt flows down Onondaga Creek and dumps into the lake. These sediments come from the Tully Valley mudboils. Mudboils are naturally occurring releases for groundwater pressure that is built up by the unique geology of the Tully valley. However, decades of mining by predecessors of Honeywell Int. have significantly increased sediment loading into the lake.
Solvay Waste beds
The Solvay waste beds ring the southwest end of Onondaga Lake. In 1884 Honeywell’s predecessors began producing soda ash on the lakeshore. Roughly 6 million pounds of salty wastes, made up of chloride, sodium, and calcium were discharged daily to Onondaga Lake from the soda ash facility before it closed in 1986. Additional dumping created the Solvay waste beds, which continue to leech toxins into Onondaga Lake today.
Mercury
Methyl mercury, the mercury found in aquatic systems, is among the most poisonous chemicals known. Mercury has been measured in fish from Onondaga lake at levels that far surpass federal and state standards. 165,000 lbs of mercury was discharged into Onondaga Lake by Allied Chemical (Honeywell’s predecessor). Scientists estimate that 7 million cubic yards of lake-bottom sediments are contaminated as a result.
Phosphorus and Ammonia
Algal blooms are a serious problem for Onondaga Lake’s ecosystem. Algae drains the water of precious oxygen thereby inhibiting plant and fish life. Recent upgrades at Syracuse’s main sewage facility have helped curb algae-promoting nutrients like phosphorus and ammonia. But these nutrients continue to freely enter the ecosystem from combined sewer overflows (CSO) that release untreated sewage into tributaries that flow into the lake.
Honeywell and Onondaga Lake: A Timeline
Clark Concrete Company
The Clark Concrete Company has recently purchased by Cranesville Block, and its subsidiary, Valley Realty Development, own a gravel mine in Tully that has degraded the headwaters of Onondaga Creek. The mining area contains areas of extreme archaeological and cultural sensitivity for the Onondaga Nation.
Established in 1938, Clark Concrete was a local company that produced concrete and aggregate for municipalities, NYS DOT and other contractors. In Fall, 2005 Cranesville Block bought Clark Concrete and has thereby accepted Clark Concrete’s legal liabilities.
Valley Realty was formed as a wholly owned subsidiary of Clark Concrete. Valley Realty was issued a mining permit in 1996 to excavate sand and gravel on approximately 24 acres during the initial permit term of a 138-acre mining facility at the headwaters of Onondaga Creek in the Tully Valley in Central New York. The permit was issued after more than seven years of efforts by Clark Concrete to overcome public opposition to the mining.
The Tully mine is on a slope which is at or very near the divide between two major watershed drainage basins. Mining into the water table could change the direction of the flow form the Tioughnioga River watershed into the Onondaga Creek watershed, dewatering private wells, lakes, wetlands, ponds, and streams in the process.
Mudslides have always been a concern for the mine. In 1993 (prior to the building of the mine) there was a large mudslide four miles north of the site. Despite the obvious geologic instability, the mine was built and in 2002 workers dredging a sediment pond at the site dug too deep, causing water to leak from the pond through a gravel vein and down the north side of the moraine. This event caused serious bank and bed damage to the stream, destroying trout fry and juveniles, disturbing trout rearing areas, and causing sediment deposition and turbidity in Onondaga Creek.
The area of the mine was historically used for hunting and fishing by the Onondaga Nation, and is of particular archeological significance. Despite the location of known Onondaga settlements and camps in the mining area, no meaningful investigation has been conducted to identify cultural and historic artifacts, or to determine whether grave sites or remains might be located therein. Mine operators and regulators continue to avoid consultation with the Onondaga Nation about these archeological issues.
Hansen Aggregates
Hansen Aggregates and its subsidiaries, which own the Jamesville Quarry. The quarry is the largest open pit mine in the state and sprawls across portions of the towns of DeWitt and LaFayette.
Aggregate mining is an inherently destructive act, one that involves removing non-renewable resources like limestone, sand, and gravel, from deep within the earth. This comes at a heavy cost to the environment and local communities.
Open-pit mining, the type of mining used at the Jamesville Quarry, is exactly what it sounds like, a gaping pit carved out of the land. In the case of the Jamesville Quarry, the land formerly consisted of pristine lakes, gorges, ice caves, and other unique geological features. Now the land is little more than a 1,174 acre trench. Another 1,064 acres is considered part of the quarry.
Hanson Aggregates North America (HANA) is the North American subsidiary of Hanson PLC, a multi-national corporation headquartered in London. A billion-dollar company and the third largest producer of aggregate in the United States, HANA has 329 active mines, ready-mix concrete operations, asphalt, and other operations in 16 states. Hanson employs over 5,100 people, and in 2004 received $33.6 million in federal highway funding.
In New York, HANA operates 13 limestone mines, 16 sand and gravel mines, and 1 dolostone (a stone like limestone that is used in construction) mine.
In January 1992, HANA received the 1,800 acre Jamesville Quarry when it acquired the General Crushed Stone Co. Today, HANA mines 2.2 million tons of stone per year for use in construction aggregate from the Jamesville Quarry.
The Jamesville Quarry occupies 2,238 acres of the Onondaga Escarpment — a 550 million year old limestone ledge that runs west to Butternut Creek valley, then through Rock Cut into and up Onondaga Creek valley. Operations at the quarry began in the 1850s, and were substantially expanded in 1909 to supply the Solvay Process soda-ash manufacturing operation. When the Solvay operation closed in 1986, it left behind 70 million tons of waste rock, now a principal source of crushed stone and aggregate.
Mining laws in New York State are designed primarily to promote the mining industry, not to protect environmental quality. The Department of Environmental Conservation is responsible for implementing the mining laws, but the mining programs are chronically underfunded and inadequately staffed.
Local laws do not afford any protection either. New York’s mining law expressly limits local regulation of mining to such a degree that many municipalities, fearing law suits, don’t regulate at all. Reclamation of aggregate — or restoring the land to its original state — mines is difficult. Even when attempts to reclaim a mine are made, they often fail to restore the property to an economically viable piece of real estate.
Trigen Syracuse Energy Corporation
Trigen Syracuse Energy Corporation owns an energy cogeneration plant in the Town of Geddes that burns a combination of coal and plastic/paper waste. The toxic emissions caused by burning these materials include large quantities of hydrochloric acid and dioxins.
Trigen Energy Corporation develops, operates and owns community energy systems and co-generation facilities — at 51 energy plants at 36 locations in the United States and Canada. Suez Lyonnaise Des Eaux acquired the company in 2000. Thermal energy accounted for 78% of 1999 revenues; electric energy, 16% and fees earned and other, 6%.
Trigen-Syracuse Energy Corporation is located the town of Geddes — very near the shores of Onondaga Lake. The plant has five coal fired boilers, two of which have been modified to burn a paper/plastic mix for supplemental fuel. Even though the facility is one of Central New York’s largest air polluters, one that produced 600,000 pounds of toxic hydrochloric acid gas in 2003 — a main factor in acid rain — US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has determined that none of the boilers are subject to the Acid Rain Program under the Clean Air Act.
Each boiler generates steam used first for the production of electricity, then for the production of sodium sulfite, cardboard, kraft paper (a thick, brown paper not unlike paper used to make paper bags), and heating the building. All five boilers were made in either the 1940s or 1960s, but Trigen-Syracuse did not start producing electricity for sale until 1991. Currently, Trigen-Syracuse sells its power primarily through the New York Independent System Operator.
Central New York’s largest air polluter is allowed to pump out unlimited amounts of hazardous air pollution, taking advantage of a loophole for power plants. Syracuse Post Standard 9/26/03 referring to the emissions of the poisonous chemical, hydrochloric acid by Trigen-Syracuse Energy Corporation.