Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. has agreed to an order from New York regulators to submit a plan by the end of this month for temporarily controlling toxic releases from its chemical plant, and must install permanent pollution control devices by October 2026.
The company paid a $5,000 civil penalty when it signed the order, and must pay another $10,000 if it doesn’t comply with requirements.
The agreement comes after months of reporting by WBFO and its partner Public Health Watch on how Goodyear has been operating with pollution-control equipment that falls short in limiting emissions of several chemicals — among them a known bladder carcinogen, ortho-toluidine, O-T. In December, WBFO published a plume map created by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) that showed the neighborhood around the plant could be exposed to the chemical at levels up to seven times what the state now considers safe.
Goodyear signed a consent order with the DEC on Tuesday, the same day activists met with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency demanding the agency issue an emergency order to force the chemical plant to fix its equipment.
The DEC said in a statement that the order “requires state-of-the-art pollution control technology that will continue to protect Niagara Falls residents.” It added that it plans to hold a public gathering to present and explain the consent order and Goodyear’s permit renewal and will take questions from the public; details will be announced soon.
Given consent-order deadlines, Goodyear could have the option of applying for a new permit within the next four months.
A group of local and state organizations alarmed over the plant’s emissions issued a press release Wednesday critical of the agreement. The order is “a slap in the face and adds insult to injury to Niagara Falls children, adults, seniors and immune-compromised people,” the release said.
The coalition — which includes the Clean Air Coalition of WNY, Don’t Waste NY, Interfaith Climate Justice Community of WNY, NAACP Niagara Falls Branch and others — are calling on Gov. Kathy Hochul to require the DEC to conduct new stack-emissions testing by February 15, 2025.
The groups propose the order then be amended to include faster timelines for interim and permanent equipment installation and approval of a new permit compliant with all current regulations. They also seek a plan to test the soil, groundwater and air surrounding the plant, as well as the urine of nearby residents.
The plant has been operating under a 2009 permit. Goodyear applied for a new permit in 2018, which is still pending. The 2009 annual guideline concentration (AGC), or limit, for O-T was significantly higher than it is today. The limit decreased in 2021 from 21 micrograms of O-T per cubic meter of air to 0.02 micrograms.
Activists worry about potency of O-T, which has been well documented for the health risks has presented to workers within the factory. To date, at least 78 workers at the Niagara Falls plant have contracted bladder cancer. However, the state contends that the AGC is not a “bright line between concentrations that cause health effects and those that do not.”
The DEC had issued a notice of violation to Goodyear in 2023, finding that two pollution control devices at the plant — called a Tri-Mer scrubber and Elimination Tank 2 — failed to reduce emissions enough of both ortho-toluidine and diphenylamine (DPA), a possible carcinogen.
The scrubber was supposed to capture 90% of the O-T and DPA that pass through it. Instead it captured only 53% of O-T and none of the DPA. The elimination tank only caught 11% of O-T.
By January 31, Goodyear must submit a plan that includes installing and starting to use interim pollution controls within two months after DEC approves the plan. Within 60 days of the order, Goodyear must submit an air pollution control engineering study with details of a plan for adding new permanent pollution-control equipment.
Once the DEC accepts the study, the plant has 45 days to submit an application and the required materials for a new air permit.
The new technology must be installed and functioning by the end of October 2026. Within 180 days of installation, the company will have to conduct new testing of the plant’s emissions, and by the end of 2026 it must provide an “acceptable” testing protocol, the consent order says.
