Porter supervisor voices support for DEC Siting Board decision

Johnston says much has changed in town’s relations with CWM

Staff Reports

Town of Porter Supervisor John “Duffy” Johnston spoke in surprising candor Tuesday in support of the state Department of Environmental Conservation Siting Board’s decision, announced Monday, to deny Waste Management (via CWM) a series of permits for its long-sought residual management unit 2 hazardous waste landfill.

Since the early 2000s, the town has maintained a community host agreement with CWM, approved by a prior administration. But as Johnston pointed out, much has changed in the relationship between the town and CWM in the decades since that agreement was signed. He said the generous financial benefits afforded to Porter by Waste Management from the host agreement have dried up – particularly so, since CWM’s permit to operate its RMU-1 landfill expired in 2015, its hazardous waste landfilling ended, and CWM’s gate receipts to the town ceased.

“Yeah, it would have been extra money, but I don't need it,” Johnston said. “We're running the town in such a way; we've been without the CWM money for a very long time. You know, I started in 2018, we regulate our budget, and I was able to keep the taxes down, without their money.”

Johnston recalled how the town benefitted from CWM’s generosity in earlier years: “There was money back in the day. And Porter did have all the best, highway vehicles. (The town) should have saved that money and spent it on infrastructure instead of letting it go. But still, with them being closed, we’re still able to fix these problems and take care of it.”

He added, “My job would be a lot easier if I had a million dollars a year from CWM.”

But he noted the community opposition from throughout northern Niagara is hard to ignore.

“There’s the Responsible Government people (RRG); you got the Village of Lewiston, the Town of Lewiston, the Village of Youngstown, everybody, the Lew-Port schools. Everybody’s against it, Niagara County, our legislator, Irene Myers. They’re all against it,” Johnston said. “If I stood there and said ‘Yeah, a million dollars,’ I would take it. (But) I have to walk down the street, ‘Oh yeah,’ and talk to people. I don’t need it.”

Johnston then commented on what an approved DEC permit for RMU-2 expansion could have meant.

“They’re (CWM) talking about an expansion and getting them a license. No one’s ever talked about what exactly they’re going to put in there,” he said.

“I don’t see any restriction whatsoever on what they can take, what they can’t take. And I don’t want that in my town. Our position was none of us wanted it in our town again. You have no idea what they were going to bring in.

“This decision was made by a Siting Board, DEC, DOT, and, apparently, they don’t want it in New York state, either. The monies the town would bring in is nothing compared to what the state would bring in. So, if they don’t want the money because they don’t want it in their state, who the hell am I?”

He said that, throughout the Siting Board RMU-2 permit review process, the town has had virtually no contact with the state DEC.

Johnston ended by saying he hopes DEC Siting Board directives ensure CWM and Waste Management maintain the Porter facility in a responsible fashion well into the future.

“My biggest worry is they still have to keep people over there,” Johnston said. “They still have to maintain that place. They (CWM) have to put so much monies aside in order to operate that. There’s got to be enough money (paid by CWM) for somebody else to come in and run that, take care of it. And that’s out of the town’s hands.”