The Tuscarora Nation’s decades-long fight to stop a proposed hazardous waste disposal facility in its ancestral territory ended with resounding victory, when the New York State Facility Siting Board (Board) and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) denied Chemical Waste Management’s (CWM) application to construct a hazardous waste facility in Western New York, near the Nation. Berkey Williams LLP serves as general counsel to the Tuscarora Nation and represented the Nation in the proceeding.
In rejecting the application, the Board determined that CWM failed to show the landfill met the siting criteria required under New York State law and was neither necessary nor in the public interest. The Board assessed the landfill’s impacts to water, wildlife, and historic and cultural resources, among other areas, and relied upon the Tuscarora Nation’s showing that its environmental and cultural resources would be profoundly damaged by the facility.
The Board and the NYSDEC’s rejection of CWM’s proposed hazardous waste landfill protects the Tuscarora Nation from exposure to six million tons of hazardous waste that was poised to be transported through Nation territory and landfilled adjacent to the Nation’s territory. “Our Firm was honored to represent the Nation in this proceeding and to assist the Nation in securing this victory, which will help protect the Nation’s ancestral lands and future generations. The victory is especially meaningful to me, as a Tuscarora Nation citizen,” said Berkey Williams Partner Jenna Macaulay.