Take Action Today – Demand Goodyear Corporation Rein in Ortho-toluidine Emissions!

Clean Air is working in coalition with Niagara Falls organizations, residents, and workers to support organizing efforts to force Goodyear Corporation to stop emitting ortho-toluidine, a bladder cancer causing chemical.

Click here to sign the petition to the EPA to ask for a 303 Emergency Order to bring emissions down to safe levels!

A community meeting in Niagara Falls related to the emissions from Goodyear will be held the first full week of January 2025 – stay tuned for details.

There is a LOT to this story – for specifics related to the Goodyear facility in particular, we highly recommend reading Jim Morris’ “The Cancer Factory” as well as the following recent articles.

• WBFO/Public Health Watch: “A dangerous carcinogen is in Niagara Falls’ air. The state hasn’t put a stop to it“
• Inside Climate News: “Computer Modeling Shows Carcinogen From Goodyear Plant Is Invading Niagara Falls Neighborhoods“

In summary, though, these are the key points to understand, via Don’t Waste New York, a statewide environmental justice organization we are working in coalition with:

• THE PROBLEM: In September 2024, the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) made  a map of the community around the Goodyear plant on 56th Street in Niagara Falls showing a cloud of toxic chemical emissions.
  The chemical – Ortho toluidine or OT – causes bladder cancer. Since 1989, studies have found a significant number of cases of bladder cancer among the workers at Goodyear.
  DEC and DOH have violated the public’s trust. They have not informed the community of the illegal toxic pollution. They have not enforced the law. They have not protected the health of community residents.
• THE SOLUTION: The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the legal power to issue a Clean Air Act Emergency Order (Section 303 of CAA) to immediately require Goodyear to reduce its toxic emissions.
  Don’t Waste New York, a statewide community support group, sent EPA a request to issue an Emergency Order on November 27, 2024. Emergency Orders can be issued when a pollution problem poses an “imminent and substantial endangerment to the public health.

We also feel that the emissions from this facility are a key example of the overarching issues in Western New York related to environmental permits for industrial facilities – from expired Title Vs to State Air Facility permits without any expiration date to facilities operating on unissued draft permits, we have seen example after example of health and safety issues arising in environmental justice communities that would be addressed with sufficient oversight and enforcement actions. Just in this past couple of weeks, The Buffalo News featured further coverage related to this problem, honing in on how stack testing (ie, testing of filters in the air stacks at facilities) is tied to permit reviews, and how delayed permit renewals mean these tests are not conducted in regular frequency.

Stay tuned for further related actions!