Endicott’s Pollution Legacy and “The Glen”
Yet another example of the pollution legacy of upstate New York, The Press & Sun-Bulletin has this article documenting contaminated soil in a wilderness tract known as “The Glen” in the Town of Union. Contaminated soil from a former Endicott Johnson site was removed by IBM and dumped in two fill areas of a country club/preserve owned by the multinational corporation. The area later changed hands and is now part of the Waterman Conservation Education Center. It should be clear that the stipulation that the preserve remain undeveloped was as much or more about avoiding liability than a show of conservation ethics.
April 11th, 2006 at 12:13 am
I was just hiking in the Glen the other day and I’m deeply saddened by this story. The town of Union is one of the most densly populated areas in Broome County and the Glen has always been something of a sacred little hideaway. At one time, old growth oaks spread across the Town of Union, in fact the massive keel of the USS Monitor (the Civil War ironclad) was cut from the area that is today the Oakdale Mall (which is where “Oakdale” get its name… no oaks there now). Today on the Glen is left. A few years ago (6 I believe) when IBM was pulling out of the region, they were attempting to squeeze as much value out of the land as they could and scheduled the last of the oaks for logging. I participated in a number of street protests that led up to Waterman Conservation Center being given the title to the land. It’s a shame to see their scars still there.. corporate greed, but I suppose that Waterman, an excellent organization, is the best possible owner of this precious local gem.
April 11th, 2006 at 12:54 pm
[...] Commenting on this news post, Endicott’s Pollution Legacy and “The Glen”, Jesse over at the York Staters adds some additional background to the story. A few years ago (6 I believe) when IBM was pulling out of the region, they were attempting to squeeze as much value out of the land as they could and scheduled the last of the oaks for logging. I participated in a number of street protests that led up to Waterman Conservation Center being given the title to the land in perpetuity. This is an interesting coda to IBM’s hold on this property and highlights the tension between economy and preservation that seems to repeat itself over and over again. From an editorial in today’s Buffalo News, Logging effort criticized: [...]