Syracuse, N.Y. — New York State and Honeywell announced this week that the dredging and capping of Onondaga Lake are done.
The former federal administrator who oversaw the Onondaga Lake cleanup for eight years, however, said Honeywell’s job is far from over.
“Honeywell will leave close to 10 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment under the many caps in the lake,” said Judith Enck, the Enviro
nmental Protection Agency regional administrator from 2009 until January.
Onondaga Lake cap is supposed to last 1,000 years: Who will make sure it works?
yracuse, N.Y. — The capping of 475 acres of Onondaga Lake bottom has been finished, state officials said this week.
Now the hard part begins: How will the cap, which failed three times during construction, be monitored for the 1,000 years or more it’s supposed to contain toxic chemicals in the sediment? How will the public know if the cap fails? And who will fix it if it does?
“We have no assurances this plan will provide any proper level of protection from the vast amounts of dangerous chemicals they’re leaving behind in the lake sediment,” said Joe Heath, the attorney for the Onondaga Nation, which has been critical of the cleanup. “We know that despite their attempts to hide this, the cap has already failed three times.”