EPA Removes Toxic Site in New York from Great Lakes Cleanup List
Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition
Contact: Lindsey Bacigal, BacigalL@nwf.org, (734) 887-7113
EPA Removes Toxic Site in New York from Great Lakes Cleanup List
ANN ARBOR, MICH. (October 10, 2024)—This week the EPA removed New York’s Rochester Embayment Area of Concern on the shore of Lake Ontario from the list of most-contaminated sites in the Great Lakes region, drawing praise from the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition.
“Today’s announcement underscores how federal investments to restore and protect the Great Lakes are producing results for people in Rochester, New York, and across the region,” said Laura Rubin, director of the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition. “Federal investments through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative are cleaning up toxic pollution, restoring fish and wildlife habitat, reducing runoff pollution, and managing invasive species. Despite these successes, serious threats remain. We encourage Congress to pass the Great Lakes Restoration Act of 2024, so that we can continue this good work. Scaling back federal investments now will only allow the problems to get worse and more expensive to solve.”
The Rochester Embayment had been listed as an Area of Concern – one of the most polluted sites in the Great Lakes region of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Decades of industrial pollution resulting in widespread contamination from toxic chemicals, including PCB’s, cyanide, and dioxins, imperiled the health of fish and wildlife as well as people.
Funding to restore the Rochester Embayment came from the federal Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which has funded actions to address environmental problems, thereby protecting drinking water, public health, recreational opportunities, and the quality of life for residents across the region.
The U.S. and Canadian governments, in the 1980s, identified 43 contaminated sites, which they deemed Areas of Concern.
Since 2004, the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition has been harnessing the collective power of more than 180 groups representing millions of people, whose common goal is to restore and protect the Great Lakes. Learn more at HealthyLakes.org or follow us on social media @HealthyLakes.
