In the drive to build a massive industrial park in rural Genesee County, the offices of Gov. Kathy Hochul and U.S.
Sen. Chuck Schumer pressured regulators to issue approvals for the project that ran afoul of environmental laws and policies, ignoring an indigenous nation’s legal rights along the way. Investigative Post found that: • Aides to Hochul pushed top officials at the state Department of Environmental Conservation to work more quickly.
• Schumer aides intervened with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
• A string of state lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, as well as local and state development officials, urged the governor, senator and regulators to move faster on permits for the industrial park. The pressure campaign was brought on by the Genesee County Economic Development Center — the local industrial development agency — and succeeded in getting regulators to speed up permit reviews for its Science Technology Advanced Manufacturing Park — STAMP. The faster work led to serious mistakes and missteps along the way.
Two permits have run afoul of federal law. For one of them, the Fish and Wildlife Service failed to consult with the Tonawanda Seneca Nation, a violation of the National Environmental Policy Act. That permit has since been revoked, in part because contractors spilled drilling fluid in protected wetlands.
For the other, the DEC approved a wastewater permit that, at present, stands to violate the federal Clean Water Act. The wastewater .