Onondaga Lake Cleanup Plan

On October 12, 2006, Honeywell announced that it entered into a Consent Decree with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to implement the Onondaga Lake cleanup plan.  The Consent Decree, which was the subject of a 30-day public comment period, was approved by a federal judge on January 4, 2007.

The Consent Decree includes a Statement of Work detailing how aspects of the cleanup plan will be implemented. In addition, the Consent Decree includes a draft Explanation of Significant Differences (ESD) describing the new location of the barrier wall due to results from pre-design investigation work completed in 2005 and 2006. An ESD is a document issued by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and DEC and is a standard part of the Superfund regulatory process. The draft ESD describes modifications required as a result of new data.

On July 1, 2005, DEC and EPA issued the state's plan to cleanup Onondaga Lake in a Record of Decision (ROD). The cleanup plan is the result of 12 years and 90,000 hours of intensive effort by world class scientists, engineers and technicians in cooperation with DEC, EPA, and federal, state, county, town and village leaders.

The cleanup plan is designed to:

• protect human health and the environment,
• meet performance criteria established by DEC and EPA,
• improve the habitat for fish and wildlife,
• improve recreational opportunities and expand public access to the lake,
• and create the conditions allowing, over time, for the lake's natural recovery.