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Efforts to restore Onondaga Lake are multifaceted. The
Office of Environment is involved, either directly or indirectly,
in a number of these efforts.
In 1999 Congressman Walsh introduced legislation to replace
the Onondaga Lake Management Conference with a new Onondaga
Lake Partnership (OLP) under the direction of the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers (USACE). The Director of the Office
of Environment serves as Chairman of the OLP Resource Subcommittee,
which was established to help identify and track funding for
all OLP projects.
The Office of Environment represents the County in discussions
with OLP members in determining how to apportion annual federal
funding through the Federal Environmental Protection Agency
and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for Onondaga Lake improvement
projects. The Office of Environment also operates as
the primary point of contact with the USACE in implementing
20 Onondaga Lake Partnership projects sponsored by the County. All
USACE projects require a local municipal sponsor. As
the primary point of contact, the Office of Environment coordinates
the involvement of all County Departments and representatives
in reviewing and commenting on all documents associated with
the 20 projects for which the County is the sponsor.
Projects associated with the Amended Consent Judgment (ACJ)
are handled by the County’s Lake Improvement Project
Office in the Department
of Water Environment Protection. The
Office of Environment participates on an on-going basis on
the ACJ Executive Policy Committee, which functions in an oversight
and policy-setting capacity with regard to ACJ issues. The
Office also coordinates the County's participation in ACJ-related
projects being carried out by the Onondaga Lake Partnership.
In February of 2004 the County achieved a settlement of decade-old
litigation between the Honeywell Corporation and the County
regarding Onondaga Lake. The litigation was an outgrowth
of a 1989 lawsuit brought by the State of New York against
Honeywell’s predecessor (AlliedSignal), to force the
cleanup of hazardous substances resulting from more than a
century of manufacturing in the Town of Geddes. In 1994,
the company sued the County alleging that the County contributed
to the mercury contamination in the Lake.
The Office of Environment coordinated the efforts the County
Departments of Law, Health and Water Environment Protection,
as well as an external team of attorneys, engineers and scientists
in an effort to bring about the settlement. The settlement
limits Onondaga County’s liability to a potential maximum
of $1 million. With the Settlement, the County’s potential
liability went from $100 million or more to a maximum of $1
million.
The County feels the settlement with Honeywell has and will
continue to prove beneficial to the overall clean-up of the
industrial pollution of Onondaga Lake, and continues to afford
the people of Onondaga County a voice in the clean-up process
for both the lake and the wastebeds.
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