Onondaga Lake may have new fishing spots and longer hiking and biking trails, under a proposed restoration plan issued today by the state and federal governments. The plan would also set aside more than 1,400 acres of land for public use along the lake and its tributaries, restore wetlands, and extend the Erie Canal trail from a dead-end in Camillus to Onondaga County’s lake shore trail. The plan is the next step in trying to repair the damage caused by decades of industrial pollution to the lake. Honeywell will pick up the tab, which will be in addition to the estimated $451 million it will cost to clean up the lake. There are no cost estimates for the work outlined in the restoration plan, and no deadline for when the projects might be completed. The plan isn’t set in stone, either: It will need to be negotiated with Honeywell. An open house on the plan will be held from 4 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Honeywell Visitors Center on the west shore of the lake. The public will be able to submit written comments until June 2.
The federal Superfund law that forced Honeywell to clean up the lake also requires companies to pay for damages suffered by the environment and humans because of the pollution. For years, the U.S. Department of Interior, the state Department of Environmental Conservation, and the Onondaga Nation have conducted that “damages assessment,” studying how pollution has harmed the lake and surrounding areas.
(The Onondaga Nation dropped out of the settlement talks more than a year ago.)
Studies have found chemical pollution, including high levels of mercury, in fish, bats and birds that live in and near the lake. Fish are so highly contaminated that children and women of child-bearing age are advised to eat no fish from the lake.
Here are some of the specific projects proposed:
•Install a stone structures at the lake bottom to provide habitat for fish, amphibians and invertebrates
•Provide 15 years of funding for identification and removal of invasive species within approximately 1,700 acres of wetlands
•Set aside about 1,400 acres of land, most of it owned by Honeywell in the Tully Valley, for fishing, hunting and other public uses.
•Install a floating fishing pier along southwest shore of the lake for deep-water fishing
•Upgrade the two crumbling jetties on the north end of the lake; one would become handicap accessible
•Install a boat ramp and floating boat dock on the Seneca River
•Extend the county bike trail from the visitors center to Harbor Brook
•Extend the Erie Canal trail from Camillus to the lake shore, a stretch of about three miles