NYRU Press Releases: Black River Spill Action

NEWS RELEASE

DATE: August 19, 2005

FOR RELEASE: Immediately

CONTACT: Bruce Carpenter, Executive Director
(315) 339-2097


River Advocate Wants Accountability For Devastating Spill
New York Rivers United Calls Current Oversight “Inadequate”
Wants Action By State DEC and Attorney General

Rome,NY – New York Rivers United today called on the state Department of Environmental Conservation to take immediate steps to prevent another manure release like the one that devastated a 20-mile stretch of the Black River last week.
“The state DEC should immediately inspect the manure lagoons on all of New York’s factory farms and require the construction of dikes and other measures to prevent manure releases from entering the water we drink, swim and fish in,” said Bruce Carpenter, NYRU executive director. “These rivers are natural resources that belong to the public, yet the public’s health, safety and well-being are not being adequately safeguarded.” He said NYRU will be contacting the DEC as well as the New York State Attorney General’s office.
Last week the Black River was contaminated when three million gallons of liquid manure spilled from a lagoon at one of Lewis County’s largest farms about 5 miles south of Lowville.
Flowing from the western Adirondacks into Lake Ontario, Black River is known for its perch, bass, catfish, shiners, and walleye fishing. State officials estimate hundreds of thousands of fish were killed.
“New York’s factory farm industry operates with inadequate oversight,” said Carpenter. “The release of more than three million gallons of untreated waste material into the Black River exemplifies what can go wrong. It also clearly points to the failures in the current permitting and monitoring rules and regulations. The state needs to immediately inspect all manure-storage facilities on farms to guard against a repeat of this catastrophe.”
NYRU is a Rome-based statewide organization that advocates for New York’s natural river resources and has recently been honored for its successes by the Adirondack Council and the Northern Forest Alliance.
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Carpenter cited a report released this week by the Sierra Club and the Citizens’ Environmental Coalition that identifies the potential risks involved in these expanding factory farms. “NYRU wishes to extend our support and thanks to the Coalition and the Sierra Club for their fine work in this area. It is unfortunate that we currently have an example of, not the worst, but certainly a major failure in the program.”
“The recent failure of a containment lagoon at a factory farm in the Black River valley is evidence of significant problems including lack of public knowledge of the risks and insufficient agency oversight. The degree of public risk involved underscores the need for increased public awareness,” Carpenter said. “The communication, or more accurately, the lack of communication, concerning the specifics of the problem, the history of the facility, the question of site inspections by the agency, make it likely that NYRU will pursue further action on this destructive spill.”
Carpenter said NYRU wants the following questions answered:
1) Who approved the general permit when it was issued for this site?
2) Was there any on-site review of the permit conditions?
3) Was any monitoring required?
4) Was the state Department of Environmental Conservation aware of any on-site changes that were made since the original permit was issued?
A second set of questions will be asked to ascertain whether NYRU will file legal actions regarding the spill.
1) What was the total impact currently?
2) Is the investigation continuing?
3) What actions were taken immediately after the spill occurred?
4) What is currently being done to ensure that no further impacts will occur?


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For more information, please contact:
Bruce Carpenter
Executive Director
New York Rivers United
Work phone: (315) 339-2097
Cell phone: (315) 273-9073