Elevated Levels of Soil Pollutants Found in Three Areas Around Tonawanda Coke

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Photo credit Mike Baggerman

TONAWANDA (WBEN) - Local scientists held a community meeting in Tonawanda Wednesday evening to provide an update on the court-ordered study that investigates the soil around the Tonawanda Coke plant.

The Tonawanda Coke Soil Study team found three areas around the plant that they want to look at more closely due to elevated levels of pollutants in a number of the soil samples that were taken.

"There were large portions of our study area that were found to be clean, so we want to let people know that those areas are clean," began Dr. Tammy Milillo, a research assistant professor at the University at Buffalo. "There's three areas sort of surrounding Tonawanda Coke to the northeast and then one small spot on Grand Island that we would like to do further investigation."

One of the locations of interest is in the Town of Tonawanda in an area surrounding the plant to the east, the second is in the city of Tonawanda that is northeast of the plant, and the third is in Grand Island, which is west of the plant.

Milillo described the types of pollutants the team is looking for.

"We tested heavy metals, pH components, and PCB's because one of the charges of the court is that Tonawanda Coke used PCB-laden raw materials in their process, so we tested that as well," said Milillo. "Keep in mind that Phase 1 of the study is a screening study, and the purpose is to see what's there because no one could tell us with 100-percent certainty what Tonawanda Coke did or did not release."

The plan for 2019 and Phase 2 of the study is to determine whether the pollutants found in the soil can be directly attributed to Tonawanda Coke.