New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Basil Seggos today released DEC’s analysis of air monitoring data for benzene and air samples collected by community residents from the neighborhood around the former Tonawanda Coke Corporation.
The data show an immediate drop in benzene following the shutdown of the facility in October 2018. Overall, DEC’s assessment of the data found no chemical concentrations that would be of concern for short- and long-term exposures and no public health concern for either short- or long-term exposure.
“For too long, Tonawanda Coke has been a blight on this community, and its owners will be held accountable for any damage to this community and the environment, ” Seggos said.
In response to concerns raised by local residents, DEC assessed neighborhood air quality by analyzing monitoring data and samples. It reports that air quality distinctly improved after the shutdown of Tonawanda Coke and that benzene, a toxic air pollutant, dropped precipitously.
DEC and the USEPA are developing a cleanup plan for the site where the DEC has operated two monitors near the site since 2007. One monitor, located on Grand Island Boulevard, is 1,500 feet northeast of the facility and near interstates 190 and 290 and other industrial facilities. The second monitor is located in a residential neighborhood on Brookside Terrace West, 8,000 feet northeast of the facility.
Earlier this year, in response to concerns about operations at Tonawanda Coke, DEC supplemented the Grand Island Boulevard toxics monitor with real-time benzene monitoring. Although benzene levels at Grand Island Boulevard were higher than recent years for much of 2018, the agency says that the shutdown of Tonawanda Coke in October corresponded with an immediate drop in benzene at that location. In addition, samples taken by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) during the period leading up to the plant closure did not detect levels of significance. For additional information, visit the DEC website.
In addition, DEC provided air sampling equipment to community residents engaged with DEC since the Tonawanda Community Air Quality Study, which DEC launched in 2007 to evaluate air quality in Tonawanda and emissions from Tonawanda Coke. In 2009, the study documented high levels of benzene released from Tonawanda Coke’s operation, which can be an indicator of certain improper operations at the facility. As a result, DEC required the facility to make repairs and operational modifications to address the releases of this pollutant. The facility worked to reduce benzene concentrations after DEC’s study and the area measurements for benzene had been reduced by 89 percent prior to the shutdown of the facility.
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