UPDATED: Dec. 4, 2017 at 1:48 p.m.

A county vote on the extension of a bike trail around the once extremely polluted Onondaga Lake coincides with the end of toxic remediation efforts there, as the Onondaga Nation remains concerned about culturally significant sites near the water.

From 1920 to 1985, Allied Chemical Corp. contaminated the lake’s water and sediment. Raw sewage with little to no treatment was dumped into the lake, along with toxic chemicals, which increased algae blooms and decreased the amount of oxygen in the water for fish.

A decade-long remediation project at the lake, considered a Superfund site by the federal government, is expected to be finished by the end of the month, though. The Onondaga County Legislature and Honeywell International Inc., successor of Allied Chemical Corp., oversaw remediation efforts.

“EPA and DEC determine when the project is finished. Dredging and capping were completed in 2016; habitat enhancements will be finished this year,” said Victoria Streitfeld, a Honeywell spokeswoman, in an email.

Officials dredged 2,653,000 cubic yards of contaminated waste and sediment, placing two “isolation caps” over contaminated areas of the lakebed, according to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. A hydraulic control system along the shore was also built to maintain the caps.

Ryan McMahon, chairman of the Onondaga County Legislature, said 4.5 million gallons of raw sewage that spilled into the lake from a pipe in October did not impede the cleanup’s completion.

“Whenever those types of things happen, usually within three days the lake is treated at an acceptable level,” McMahon said.

The county will vote on Dec. 5 about extending a biking trail onto Murphy’s Island, an area of land unofficially promised to the Onondaga Nation in 2011.

“Murphy’s Island … is probably the most polluted site on the lakeshore, and it has chemicals that pose much more significant health risks to anyone who comes in contact with them,” said Joe Heath, a lawyer for the Onondaga Nation.

McMahon has sponsored the extension of the East Shore Recreation and West Shore walking trails. One trail runs through the Lakeview Amphitheater, which is also on the Superfund site. McMahon said just bicycling or walking through Murphy’s Island would not be enough to expose people to toxins.

“There would really be no risk to the public whatsoever,” McMahon said. “Unless you had a human or a small child off the trail eating 40 grams of dirt a day for over 40 days a year.”

A decade-long remediation project at the lake, considered a Superfund site by the federal government, is expected to be finished by the end of the month Ally Moreo | Photo Editor

The Murphy’s Island trail extension and broader “Loop the Lake Trail” initiative, which would connect the island trail completely around the lake, aims “to restore and protect wildlife habitat and water quality and increase recreational opportunities,” Streitfeld said.

The projects were proposed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in 2017.

The county has agreed that building a trail on Murphy’s Island would involve limited cleanup costs, per Syracuse.com. The Onondaga Nation, which was promised the 36-acre parcel of land before the county reneged in 2016, has asserted the county is moving too hastily, Heath said.

A vote on the Murphy’s Island trail extension was originally scheduled for Nov. 6 but was postponed to December. Heath said this process has been “rushed,” adding that the original trail vote was only public knowledge for three or four days before the meeting.

“They don’t want people to know about these things and understand them and organize to find a better way,” Heath said.

The trail extension over Murphy’s Island would cost $1.5 million, McMahon said, and county officials would also try to extend the trail again to complete a loop around the lake.

A county committee was set up to choose another parcel of lakeshore land for the Onondaga Nation to acquire.

“There hasn’t been tremendous progress yet,” McMahon said of the committee’s work. But, he said, it should be a priority next year. McMahon said the county wants to “put forward a process that is going to give a true outcome to the Nation,” rather than a nonbinding memorial resolution that promised Murphy’s Island.

McMahon also said the island has “no real spiritual value to the Nation” because it did not exist in pre-colonial times — it only formed through geological processes after European colonists settled nearby land.

The Nation, though, already has an idea of new lakeshore property it wants to own: an alcove on the western shore of Onondaga Lake called Maple Bay, according to Syracuse.com. The entire area should be a world heritage site, Heath said.

“We don’t think we need a whole committee set up by the county to come to that conclusion. And, the Nation is very, very …” Heath said, pausing. “Well, they don’t trust the county after us breaking our promises again.”

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, the relation of Honeywell International Inc. to Allied Chemical Corp. was misstated. Honeywell is the successor of Allied Chemical. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

Published on November 27, 2017 at 11:22 pm

Contact Mary: mdcatalf@syr.edu | @mrycatalfamo