Construction on a wastewater pipeline meant to service Genesee County’s STAMP industrial park has been halted by federal authorities after at least two drilling fluid spills occurred at the pipeline’s construction site in the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge, according to documents obtained by The Buffalo News.
The biggest of those spills, which occurred on Sept. 7, discharged “approximately 100 gallons” of slurry into wetlands that feed into Oak Orchard Creek, according to notices from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Thursday’s public comment period was the latest battle between county officials promoting economic growth and activists fighting for Indigenous sovereignty and environmental protections.
Fluids from the spill were “not contained on the project site” and spread over an area of about 24,000 square feet. Construction also caused the formation of sinkholes and several instances where the “road shoulder was slumping and pulling away” from the rest of the road, a federal report found.
Following inspections, federal authorities directed the Genesee County Economic Development Center – Genesee County’s economic development agency and the entity overseeing STAMP – to halt…
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