April Fideli in Buffalo News

[Mary3]

Working to make a waste site disappear
By Aaron Besecker - NEWS NIAGARA BUREAU
Updated: 06/15/08 8:45 AM


A mother of two from the Town of Porter has set her sights on the future of hazardous waste in Western New York. April D. Fideli is president of a citizens group called Residents for Responsible Government, which is fighting the proposed expansion of CWM Chemical Services, the Porter landfill. The facility is the only one of its kind in the Northeast.

Fideli, who was born in Double Springs, Ala., was named president of the organization, known as RRG, in March 2007.

She recently sat down with The Buffalo News to talk about her group’s activities, as well as her recent award as citizen advocate of the year by Freshwater Future, a Michigan-based not-for-profit, formerly known as Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat Network & Fund.

You’ve been named citizen advocate of the year. What does it mean to you?

It was an honor. I was very surprised. And it’s nice to be recognized for all of your efforts. It was given to me, but I feel like everyone donates all their time and all their effort. . . . And I just feel like everyone has been given this award, not just me.

It was just nice to be recognized and nice for people to see. Once the article went into the paper, people would stop me and say thank you for what you’re doing for the community and we really appreciate it. And that was just nice to know that even if people aren’t saying it all the time, or maybe they’re not being as supportive as I think that they should, that they recognize that we’re doing a good thing in the community. . . . And I hope by receiving this award it’ll bring more people to see that they can do the same things that I’m doing to help make this community a better place.

How did you get involved with RRG?

I moved here, had no idea that there was a hazardous waste landfill. And I moved right onto Balmer Road. There’s a farm house right on the corner. My daughter was 6 months old, [and I was] pregnant with my son. . . . I was playing outside with her, watching all these trucks drive by, asking someone, ‘What’s that?’ ‘Oh, it’s a dump. It’s a dump.’ So I started investigating a little bit. ‘What kind of dump?’ ‘Oh, they just dump trash or whatever.’ So I started investigating a little more. And it wasn’t in the papers then like it is now. So I couldn’t pick up anything and read to find out.

I started doing a little more investigating. And then I saw a letter to the editor in the [Lewiston- Porter] Sentinel by [Harriet “Skeeter” Tower] calling people to action. And so I called her . . . and I started looking at the trucks and typing in the numbers that I saw on the computer, trying to figure out what it was and realizing that this was bad stuff driving by. . . So I got involved with RRG. I went to a meeting. I said, ‘What do you want me to do . . . ?’

It took me a while to earn their trust and their respect. And then after getting involved, there’s been times that it’s been frustrating and I wanted to quit. But I just can’t. . . . I just felt a passion for it and getting involved and being able to have my hands in everything that was happening. And being able to hopefully affect the future for this community and the Great Lakes and everyone in a positive way.

For people who don’t know what RRG is or does, what is the mission of the group?

The mission is to obviously stop the expansion of Chemical Waste Management, but also to educate the community. And we’re really trying — our goal this year is to try to educate the community in a postivie manner. Instead of fighting against something to fight for something.

I used to have absolute faith in government before I started this. We are so lucky to have the support of [Assemblywoman Francine DelMonte]. I mean the absolute 100 percent support. And of [Lewiston Supervisor] Fred Newlin and all of the local officials. I mean we are really lucky in that aspect because a lot of people don’t even have that. So we are very lucky. But we have a lot to do . . .

This year is a really really pertinent year for this community, and people don’t even realize it. Because we’re on the cusp of never having a hazardous waste landfill again, other than having the maintenance of the facility, for which there’s a bond that people don’t realize is there. And that’s another thing we will be educating people about as the summer goes on, and doing ads and trying to do educational pieces and hopefully holding some conferences to educate people if they want to come and find out about things.

Because we can either close this landfill forever and maintain it with the money that’s there, or we can have another one for the next 30 to 60 years. What do you want for the future of this place? . . . It’s your choice, and all you have to do is act right now. Because if they get this new permit, then it will be here forever. It’ll be there for the rest of my life. And that’s what I want people to understand, and that’s what RRG wants people to understand . . .

For someone who doesn’t know that much about the facility or the history, and this is the first time that they’re reading about it, why should they pay attention?

CWM should have never been here in the first place because there’s laws that are in existence that say that that land should have never been excavated. There should have never been a landfill there . . .

Every truck that drives into that facility drives directly past our children and all the people in this community. . .

The radiological contamination that’s there is another one that people don’t realize. [Many] people don’t realize that that land was contaminated before a landfill was ever there. . . . And that’s what they need to realize. Take away the hazardous waste, there’s radiological contamination that exists there way before. So you add that together. We’ve had doctors come and say that’s like putting roller skates on carcinogens. It’s not a good situation. And so we’re going to have to fight this opportunity. But I feel that we are in the best position that we have been — and I say we as a people that have been fighting against this for so long — to stop it. Because we have all these facts on our side. We have our representatives on our side. We have all these people.

And we have a lot of people in the community that are educated, and we hope in the years to come to educate a lot more.

It sounds like you’re pretty confident in going forward here. But realistically, CWM is a subsidiary of one of the largest waste companies in the world. They have lobbyists. They make campaign donations. That’s the way of the world these days. Isn’t it going to be a tough fight?

Absolutely. We as a community and as a volunteer organization, the people that volunteer their time, we are fighting a billion-dollar [company]. Their parent corporation is a billion-dollar corporation. Obviously it’s not going to be easy. But until about three years ago, they never felt the need to put the advertisements that they put in the paper every weekend. They never have felt the need to have all of these “educational” things that they have for the community. And these parties and these picnics and these giveaways. They never have felt the need to do any of that for the past almost 20 years that they’ve been in this community. So we have this company with all of this money — we, the little people — on the run.

It is frustrating, but I call on the community to take action this year. I ask everyone to take time, or if you can’t take time, if you have a little extra money. A little goes a long way. You can add it up. Because obviously we will have major attorney fees when we go to fight this. Because either we’ll be suing CWM or the DEC. For the [state hazardous waste] siting plan if it’s not right, that’s what we’re going to have to do.

. . . If would have been in the paper when I moved here, I would not have moved here. And I know at least 20 people like me, that moved here at the exact same time that I did. And it wasn’t in the paper, they didn’t see it. There’s not a sign. Your real estate agent doesn’t tell you. They just conveniently don’t take you to those roads.

Robert Kennedy Jr. said a great thing when he was here [to speak at Stella Niagara on April 26]. He said corporations don’t give away money just because. They can’t because their stakeholders could sue them if they did. They always have a hidden agenda. So I ask people, when they look at Waste Management and they look at CWM, to think about that because that’s the truth. . .

And I understand that it’s frightening, because sometimes it would be easier for me to turn around and run the other way than to have this in my life. But I feel like I’m called to this. I feel like this is what I’m supposed to do. . . . But I have a place here in this fight, to help this community be a better place. Because I don’t want my children to have to move. I came from Florida. I chose this place to live because of the beauty. We live in a postcard here. . . . We have to do everything that we can to protect it.

abesecker@buffnews.com

[Mary3]

What happened to the website?

Hope it will be up soon.