The lifetime cancer risk from environmental benzene exposure in neighborhoods around Tonawanda Coke is more than 10 times less now than a decade ago, according to findings by the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
What’s more, despite a small uptick in benzene releases this year compared to last year, the levels are 92 percent lower since the century-old River Road plant closed in mid-October.
The DEC’s review of air quality data detected “no public health concerns” for short or long-term exposures.
“In response to concerns raised by local residents, DEC assessed neighborhood air quality by analyzing monitoring data and samples,” DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos said. “We found that air quality distinctly improved after the shutdown of Tonawanda Coke and that benzene, a toxic air pollutant, dropped precipitously.”
The data of 15-minute and 24-hour averages at the DEC’s Grand Island Boulevard air monitoring station near Tonawanda Coke found a dramatic decrease in the amount of benzene in the air since the plant’s Oct. 14-21 shutdown period. All of the readings were less than 1 part per billion and nearly all of them were less than 0.5 parts per billion. Data before the shutdown revealed 15-minute average levels at or above 5 parts per billion four times between Aug. 13 and Sept. 28.
