Tonawanda Coke, ECIDA at Fault

Community groups, environmentalists and politicians work together to bring an end to high levels of deadly benzene at Tonawanda Coke.

Last week we brought you this story from members of the Clean Air Coalition of Western New York (CACWNY) concerning Tonawanda Coke.  This week CACWNY has teamed up with the Coalition for Economic Justice (CEJ) to call to call the Erie County Industrial Development Agency (ECIDA) to account for subsidies provided to a subsidiary of Tonawanda Coke. 

Specifically, the groups have expressed outrage against the ECIDA's decision to subsidize Braxner, LLC, a subsidiary of the Tonawanda Coke Corporation.

Sunday, The Buffalo News confirmed that in 2006 Braxner LLC, a real estate holding company related to Tonawanda Coke, received $130,000 in property sales and mortgage tax breaks from the Erie County Industrial Development Agency. The money was part of a project that allowed Vanocur Refractories, a company that makes cast blocks used in refurbishing coke ovens, to renovate and move into a building down the road from Tonawanda Coke.

In addition, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer demanded that J.D. Crane, owner and CEO of the Tonawanda Coke Corporation meet with community groups and listen to their complaints about the pollution coming from the Tonawanda facility and to explore potential solutions.  Crane has blamed the plant's benzene emissions, which are up to 75 times higher than NYS Department of Environmental Conservation recommended guidelines, on nearby automobile traffic. 

Schumer doesn't believe a word of it and says, "The time has come for Mr. Crane to sit down with the community groups who have raised very serious concerns about Tonawanda Coke. I have long championed manufacturing in Western New York and I value Tonawanda Coke's importance as an employer in the region, but Mr. Crane must now end his stonewalling and meet with community members, hear their stories, and produce whatever evidence he has to back his claims that his plant is not the cause of the elevated benzene and ammonia levels in Tonawanda.  The source of the pollution must be identified and mitigated, and a more concerted effort must be made to prevent these toxic chemicals from making their way into our air to ensure the health and safety of residents and workers."

According to Erin Heaney, director of the Clean Air Coalition of Western New York, "The community is outraged that the ECIDA supported one of JD Crane's companies despite his long history of disregard for the environment and his neighbors. In the future, the ECIDA should fully investigate the environmental and labor records of businesses they intend to support with tax-payer money."

The Coalition for Economic Justice partnered with the Clean Air Coalition as part of their multi-year fight against IDA abuses. CEJ has been working with labor, community and environmental groups across the state to advance legislation that would reform how NYS's 115 Industrial Development Agencies operate. As part of a state reform package they are championing, businesses seeking tax breaks would have to disclose - in a community impact report, how their operation affects environmental quality. Further, no financial assistance would be allowed if a business has committed a substantial violation of a state or local law or regulation relating to environmental protection, taxation, financial assistance, worker protection or minority or women-owned businesses within three years of the application.

"Clearly these reform measures are needed to ensure that the public isn't giving hand-outs to polluters like J.D. Crane," said Allison Duwe, Director of the Coalition for Economic Justice. "Crane is a very wealthy business owner who has a track record of poisoning his workers, their families and children, and the air all of us breathe. If he is going to ask for taxpayer assistance he should use it to clean up his act and his plant, and do right by his workforce and the community, not line his own pocket."