GM-Powertrain hazardous waste dump disturbed

The Akwesasne community has been in debate the past week talking about the incident that occurred at the General Motors-Powertrain site last Thursday. For those who have yet to hear about what took place at the 12-acre landfill, Akwesasne community member Larry Thompson drove an excavator through the fence surrounding the capped landfill and proceeded to dig it up. For two-hours Thompson dug into the landfill and dropped the contaminated soil into a rail car nearby in preparation to have it transferred away from the territory to be disposed of.

By 1:00pm the state police arrived and arrested Thompson, having been reported by employees of the Revitalizing Auto Communities Environmental Response (RACER) Trust. RACER Trust had purchased the property and was overseeing the dismantling of the plant and removal of debris by rail car. Once Thompson was removed from the excavator he was charged with two felony counts of second-degree criminal mischief for damage in excess of $1,500, as well as misdemeanor counts of second-degree reckless endangerment and resisting arrest. He was arraigned by Massena Town Justice Gerald P. Sharlow and sent to St. Lawrence County jail in Canton, originally on $100,000 bail or $200,000 bond.

On Monday, Thompson was brought before the Town of Massena Court for a preliminary hearing. At this hearing prosecutors presented their evidence collected to date to allow for Justice Sharlow to determine whether there was enough to hold the case over for a grand jury. At this time Thompson was allowed to make a closing statement on his own behalf, explaining why he committed the action that he did. Justice Sharlow found that the case would be presented to a grand jury, a process that could take up to six months.

Justice Sharlow also agreed that Thompson has strong ties to the community and that as long as he promises to stay off GM land and refrain from further criminal activity, his bail would be reduced to $5,000 bail or $10,000 bond, which was posted by his brother Loran Thompson.

The outside media immediately began hailing Thompson’s actions as civil disobedience against the corporate giant that is General Motors. Akwesasne community members who know of Thompson’s history agree that it was a criminal act that threatened the safety of Akwesasne’s already precarious environment. Elders who were still upset from when Thompson and his group had destroyed the historic marker leading into Kana:takon that marked the United States/Canada border disapprove of his latest method for making a statement on another issue. Regardless of which stance is taken to view the actions that occurred, there is one universal truth in all of the great debate: the GM landfill needs to be moved.

History of the Landfill

In 1981 Tribal Council was informed that the GM site had been designated by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) as a hazardous waste site. That there had been widespread groundwater contamination at the landfill site, which included the toxic substance polychlorinated biphenyls (PBCs), and that this was one of the worst hazardous waste sites in the country. At that point GM had been looking for permission to cap the site and was denied to allow for further testing of the area to determine what the best method for clean up would be.

GM had been operating the dump in violation of state law, and although the state knew about it in 1983 no action was taken until 1986 after the Tribe complained to the EPA. The GM dump was never properly sited as a landfill, and without a proper liner in place there is no containment, which is what is required for hazardous waste. GM had never been charged for illegally operating the dump and violating state law that required a permit for the operation of the dump.

After much debate between GM, DEC and EPA, a decision was made in 1987 that an ‘interim cap’ would be placed on the site to allow more time for a strategy to be developed. At the time, Darrell Sweredoski, a senior sanitary engineer with the DEC publicly announced that the ‘interim cap’, which was made with 12-inches of clay covered with 6-inches of topsoil, was definitely not a long-term solution to this problem. The cap was designed to have an effectiveness of two-years, which was the timeframe needed to finalize a clean-up strategy.

Thompson’s Reasoning

“We were trying to protect our future children from an invisible killer,” said Thompson in an interview on Tuesday after his release from jail. “How many people are suffering illness and are dying a slow death now? How many people have died of cancer? How many young women have rheumatoid arthritis or problems with fertility?”

Thompson explained that in Akwesasne there is an above average rate of diseases like cancer and diabetes that are often associated with a poor lifestyle. The reality for him is that all of the disease is a reaction to the chemicals emitted from the improperly capped hazardous waste dump.

“It is not the people’s fault that they don’t understand what has happened to them,” said Thompson’s wife Dana Leigh. “The people have lost the truth of our history. GM was on the verge of bankruptcy and then they were bailed out and they split the company in two. The old GM was stuck with the toxic acid properties as part of the settlement that was agreed to by the Tribe…now the new GM is posting record profits.”

“If GM is posting record profits, why can’t they clean up what they created?” asked Larry Thompson. “I’ll attribute my decision to move on Thursday to astrology – you move when it’s the right time to move, and my clan mother said it was the right time as long as no one was harmed or hurt in the process.”

Thompson outlined that what should have happened as part of RACER Trust demolition activity was that as the parts of steel and other debris was shipped out so would the contaminated soil. That RACER Trust is making money off of the sale of the steel from the building, they could at least work on removal of the soil from the hazardous waste dump.

“I remember skating on the PCBs ponds when I was a kid and at one point my brother fell through into the water,” said Larry Thompson. “You just have to remember that the chemicals don’t discriminate, they will attack everyone.”

Reactions From Incident

Federal Officials have publicly stated that the actions taken by Thompson do not change the status of the hazardous waste dump. The plan of keeping it in place and just repairing the ‘interim cap’ remains.

“The tribe fully understands that community members are rightfully concerned about pollution and contamination,” said officials at the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe.  “We don’t question Mr. Thompson’s motives, but don’t condone illegal activities.”

The SRMT has verified that the RACER contractors put the materials back in the landfill and have recapped the site. Additionally, the SRMT’s involvement was to assist in preventing any contamination from coming into Akwesasne by containing the excavator until it can be decontaminated. They have also indicated that the area is located where run-off water is controlled, so most likely no contaminants made their way into the river or into the groundwater.

Mohawk Council of Akwesasne has no comment on the incident that occurred last Thursday. A date has yet to be determined for the grand jury hearing that will happen in relation to this incident.