Elma (N.Y.)--Newspapers]]> Erie County (N.Y.)--Newspapers]]> [Elma News]]]> Elma Public Library]]> eng]]> Mid-Twentieth Century (1925-1975)]]> Elma (N.Y.)--Newspapers]]> Erie County (N.Y.)--Newspapers]]> [Elma News]]]> Elma Public Library]]> eng]]> Mid-Twentieth Century (1925-1975)]]> Elma (N.Y.)--Newspapers]]> Erie County (N.Y.)--Newspapers]]> [Elma News]]]> Elma Public Library]]> eng]]> Mid-Twentieth Century (1925-1975)]]> Elma (N.Y.)--Newspapers]]> Erie County (N.Y.)--Newspapers]]> [Elma News]]]> Elma Public Library]]> eng]]> Mid-Twentieth Century (1925-1975)]]> Elma (N.Y.)--Newspapers]]> Erie County (N.Y.)--Newspapers]]> [Elma News]]]> Elma Public Library]]> eng]]> Mid-Twentieth Century (1925-1975)]]> Elma (N.Y.)--Newspapers]]> Erie County (N.Y.)--Newspapers]]> [Elma News]]]> Elma Public Library]]> eng]]> Mid-Twentieth Century (1925-1975)]]> Elma (N.Y.)--Newspapers]]> Erie County (N.Y.)--Newspapers]]> [Elma News]]]> Elma Public Library]]> eng]]> Mid-Twentieth Century (1925-1975)]]> Elma (N.Y.)--Newspapers]]> Erie County (N.Y.)--Newspapers]]> [Elma News]]]> Elma Public Library]]> eng]]> Mid-Twentieth Century (1925-1975)]]> Elma (N.Y.)--Newspapers]]> Erie County (N.Y.)--Newspapers]]> [Elma News]]]> Elma Public Library]]> eng]]> Mid-Twentieth Century (1925-1975)]]> Elma (N.Y.)--Newspapers]]> Erie County (N.Y.)--Newspapers]]> [Elma News]]]> Elma Public Library]]> eng]]> Mid-Twentieth Century (1925-1975)]]> Elma (N.Y.)--Newspapers]]> Erie County (N.Y.)--Newspapers]]> [Elma News]]]> Elma Public Library]]> eng]]> Mid-Twentieth Century (1925-1975)]]> Lankes, Julius J., 1884-1960]]> Wood-engraving, American -- 20th century]]> Etching, American -- 20th century]]> Clubs--New York (State)--Buffalo]]> (Buffalo (N.Y.)--Societies and clubs]]> Lankes, Julius J., 1884-1960]]> Rare Book Room of the B&ECPL (repository)]]> eng]]> Early Twentieth Century (1900-1925)]]> Marriage records--New York (State), Western]]> Marriage records--New York (State)--Buffalo]]>
Buff. Pat. – Buffalo Patriot
Empor./Buff. Emporium – Buffalo Emporium
Gaz./Gazette – Niagara Gazette
Journal/Journal & Adv. - Buffalo Journal & General Advertiser
Niag. Journal – Niagara Journal
Niag. Pat. – Niagara Patriot
Republican – Buffalo Republican]]> Ives, William, 1817-1916.]]> Rare Book Room of the B&ECPL (repository)]]> eng]]> Early Twentieth Century (1900-1925)]]> Drug addiction--Treatment]]> Drug addiction--Rehabilitation]]> In an effort to better understand the nature of addiction, WIVB-TV reporter Rich Newberg presents a series of reports featuring addicts speaking intimately about their drug habits and how their lives are controlled by substance abuse.

Out of Control
(:00 - 8:38) Air Date: June 29, 1989

These reports by Rich Newberg and Mike Mombrea, Jr. are unique in that some addicts allow themselves to be recorded as the illicit drugs enter their bloodstreams and take effect. The viewer learns first hand why it is so difficult for these individuals to straighten out their lives.

Delving even further into the dark side of drug abuse, Newberg and Mombrea record addicts Julie and Randy as they suffer through the pain of withdrawal. They are documented desperately seek help at the county hospital only to be told they must come back in two days because there are no beds available.

During their two day ordeal, Julie and Randy turn to alcohol in an attempt to steady their nerves. They also take part in a group therapy session, candidly sharing the feelings they are experiencing. They long for “a nice, healthy, normal life.” Two weeks after detoxification, the couple appears to be energized and eager to continue on the road to recovery. They are determined to beat the odds, which are generally against addicts leaving detox centers.

Living on Drug Row
(8:45 - 19:09) Air Dates: May 9, 10, 11, 1989

Reporter Rich Newberg and photographer Scott Alexander explore the ease in which heroin and cocaine are obtainable within Buffalo’s inner city. Citizens bemoan the fact that when a low level dealer is arrested, another fills his place almost immediately.

Drug abuse is so prevalent in the city’s housing projects, that children are exposed to hypodermic needles where they play.

We meet two five year old girls whose mothers are deeply concerned that their daughters might suffer long term effects due to their contact with discarded needles. One child drank the contents of a syringe. The other girl pricked her finger on a needle.

A cocaine dealer speaking candidly says five thousand dollars a day can be made on the streets. He adds that “young kids” are recruited to sell because there is less risk to the dealer. He claims it is easy for those arrested to “beat” the family court system.

Saving the Kids
(19:15 - 23:08) November 15, 1989

A shortage of long-term drug treatment centers and clinics in Western New York requires families of means to send their addicted children out of the region for help.

Rich Newberg presents the case of Matthew, outwardly the “All American Boy” from suburban Amherst, New York, who hid his drug problems from his loved ones until he became alienated from his family. Matthew attended one of the area’s most highly rated high schools, but disclosed that drug abuse “before, during, and after school” was a hidden but festering problem.

Matthew’s father was in denial until his son completely cut himself off from the family. Matthew, along with about a dozen other Amherst children who were abusing drugs, became enrolled in the Straight Program in Plymouth, Michigan. The success rate is seventy-five percent and relies on a combination of rigid exercise and an open sharing of feelings to wean teenagers off of drugs.

Matthew’s program lasted twenty-two months and cost $12,000 dollars. Most of the drug treatment programs in the Buffalo area at the time lasted twenty-eight days. While programs like the one in Plymouth offered hope to upscale families who could afford the tuition, there appeared to be a sense of hopelessness in the inner city, where drug dealers ruled the streets and controlled the lives of those who became dependent on them to feed their addictions.

]]> Newberg, Rich (Reporter)]]> Mombrea, Mike, Jr. (Photographer)]]> Alexander, Scott (Photographer)]]> Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Arts Director)]]> eng]]> Curtin, John T., 1921-2017]]> Affirmative action programs]]> Race discrimination]]> U.S. District Court Judge John Thomas Curtin (August 24, 1921 - April 14, 2017) was interviewed by WIVB-TV Senior Correspondent Rich Newberg on April 18, 1995. The subject was affirmative action.

Judge Curtin issued rulings establishing minority hiring quotas in Buffalo’s police and fire departments and within the Buffalo School District. He believed minorities lacked opportunities for jobs and a quality education, resulting in what he once called “a poorly trained underclass” that became reliant on welfare.

Born in Buffalo, Curtin served as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of New York from 1961 to 1967 before being nominated by President Lyndon Johnson for a seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of New York. He had been recommended by New York Senator Robert Kennedy. John Curtin was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on December 14, 1967.

In 1976 Judge Curtin ordered that Buffalo public schools be desegregated. He ruled that minority students in Buffalo had been denied equal protection under the law, and that a segregated school system in Buffalo had been intentionally maintained.

His rulings led to the hiring of more minority teachers and the creation of academically strong magnet schools that would encourage students of all races to accept being bused to these high level schools.

Though Judge Curtin was targeted for criticism and sometimes even death threats by those who felt his rulings were overreaching, he consistently ruled in favor of removing barriers that had been built on “unfairness, bigotry (and) bias” against minorities, women, children, and those with special challenges.

]]> Newberg, Rich (Reporter, Interviewer)]]> Root, Kim (Photographer, Editor)]]> Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Arts Director)]]> eng]]> Cuomo, Mario M., 1932-2015.]]> Governors--New York (State)]]>
In 2015, following Cuomo’s death at age 82, WIVB-TV Senior Correspondent Rich Newberg talked with Masiello and the governor’s former spokesman in Buffalo, Tim Clark, about Cuomo’s unique ability to connect with people, even if they did not agree with him politically. ]]> Newberg, Rich (Writer, Reporter)]]> Mombrea, Mike Jr. (Editor)]]> Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Arts Director)]]> eng]]> Wolfer, Gayle.]]>
The owner of the house, Craig Bush, was allegedly a cocaine dealer looking to sell his home and get out of the drug dealing business. He was also shot and suffered brain damage. His fiancé had been handcuffed by the shooter but managed to escape from the house during the time when Ms. Wolfer was being shot.

Wolfer put up a struggle after the assailant’s handgun initially jammed. She survived her three bullet wounds and less than five months later, by sheer coincidence, came upon the man who shot her. She identified the shooter as Edward Beaufort-Cutner, an Erie County sheriff’s deputy who happened to be mounted on a horse during a patrol at the Erie County Fair.

During his trial it was determined Beaufort-Cutner had stolen $2,600 cash from Bush’s home before he shot his victims. Beaufort-Cutter was convicted of attempted murder, robbery, burglary, and weapons counts. He was sentenced to 29 to 50 years in prison.

Ms. Wolfer’s story was so compelling that a made-for-TV movie called “With Murder In Mind” aired on CBS in 1992. The late actress Elizabeth Montgomery played Wolfer’s character. Gayle and her companion Robert Sprague, who had played a key role in her recovery, attended the filming in Atlanta and served as extras in the movie.
Sprague’s character was played by Robert Foxworth.

WIVB-TV reporter Rich Newberg and photographer-editor Jack Keller documented the making of the movie in a four-part series that aired in May 1992. There were two other Buffalo connections to the making of the movie. Jack Maurer, the executive producer, and Joanie Cuff, an associate producer, were from Western New York. Cuff personally knew Ms. Wolfer and attended school with her children. ]]> Newberg, Rich (Writer, Reporter)]]> Keller, Jack (Photographer, Editor)]]> Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Arts Director)]]> eng]]> Women -- Suffrage -- United States -- History]]> Women's rights -- United States -- History]]> Women -- Political activity -- United States -- History]]> [Buffalo Public Library]]]> eng]]> Early Twentieth Century (1900-1925)]]> Real estate business -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Real estate business -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Haas & Klein (Publisher of original)]]> eng]]> Late Nineteenth Century (1875-1900)]]> Real estate business -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Real estate business -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Haas & Klein (Publisher of original)]]> eng]]> Late Nineteenth Century (1875-1900)]]> Real estate business -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Real estate business -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Haas & Klein (Publisher of original)]]> eng]]> Late Nineteenth Century (1875-1900)]]> Real estate business -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Real estate business -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Haas & Klein (Publisher of original)]]> eng]]> Late Nineteenth Century (1875-1900)]]> Real estate business -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Real estate business -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Haas & Klein (Publisher of original)]]> eng]]> Late Nineteenth Century (1875-1900)]]> Real estate business -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Real estate business -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Haas & Klein (Publisher of original)]]> eng]]> Late Nineteenth Century (1875-1900)]]> Real estate business -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Real estate business -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Haas & Klein (Publisher of original)]]> eng]]> Late Nineteenth Century (1875-1900)]]> Real estate business -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Real estate business -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Haas & Klein (Publisher of original)]]> eng]]> Late Nineteenth Century (1875-1900)]]> Real estate business -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Real estate business -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Haas & Klein (Publisher of original)]]> eng]]> Late Nineteenth Century (1875-1900)]]> Real estate business -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Real estate business -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Haas & Klein (Publisher of original)]]> eng]]> Late Nineteenth Century (1875-1900)]]> Real estate business -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Real estate business -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Haas & Klein (Publisher of original)]]> eng]]> Late Nineteenth Century (1875-1900)]]> Real estate business -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Real estate business -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Haas & Klein (Publisher of original)]]> eng]]> Late Nineteenth Century (1875-1900)]]> Real estate business -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Real estate business -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Haas & Klein (Publisher of original)]]> eng]]> Late Nineteenth Century (1875-1900)]]> Real estate business -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Real estate business -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Haas & Klein (Publisher of original)]]> eng]]> Late Nineteenth Century (1875-1900)]]> Real estate business -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Real estate business -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Haas & Klein (Publisher of original)]]> eng]]> Late Nineteenth Century (1875-1900)]]> Real estate business -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Real estate business -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Haas & Klein (Publisher of original)]]> eng]]> Late Nineteenth Century (1875-1900)]]> Real estate business -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Real estate business -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Haas & Klein (Publisher of original)]]> eng]]> Late Nineteenth Century (1875-1900)]]> Real estate business -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Real estate business -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Haas & Klein (Publisher of original)]]> eng]]> Late Nineteenth Century (1875-1900)]]> Real estate business -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Real estate business -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Haas & Klein (Publisher of original)]]> eng]]> Late Nineteenth Century (1875-1900)]]> Real estate business -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Real estate business -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Haas & Klein (Publisher of original)]]> eng]]> Late Nineteenth Century (1875-1900)]]> Real estate business -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Real estate business -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Haas & Klein (Publisher of original)]]> eng]]> Late Nineteenth Century (1875-1900)]]> Real estate business -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Real estate business -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Haas & Klein (Publisher of original)]]> eng]]> Late Nineteenth Century (1875-1900)]]> Real estate business -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Real estate business -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Haas & Klein (Publisher of original)]]> eng]]> Late Nineteenth Century (1875-1900)]]> Real estate business -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Real estate business -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Haas & Klein (Publisher of original)]]> eng]]> Late Nineteenth Century (1875-1900)]]> Real estate business -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Real estate business -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Haas & Klein (Publisher of original)]]> eng]]> Late Nineteenth Century (1875-1900)]]> Real estate business -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Real estate business -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Haas & Klein (Publisher of original)]]> eng]]> Late Nineteenth Century (1875-1900)]]> Real estate business -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Real estate business -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Haas & Klein (Publisher of original)]]> eng]]> Late Nineteenth Century (1875-1900)]]> Real estate business -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- Periodicals]]> Real property -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Real estate business -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> Haas & Klein (Publisher of original)]]> eng]]> Late Nineteenth Century (1875-1900)]]> Miller, Van, 1907-2015.]]> Buffalo Bills (Football team) -- History.]]> Radio broadcasting of sports -- New York (State) -- Buffalo -- History]]>
Born in Dunkirk, New York, south of Buffalo, Miller’s career echoed his calls in the booth, building to a crescendo from humble beginnings as a summer replacement announcer at WBEN-TV (now WIVB-TV) in the mid-1950s to the station’s legendary sports anchor. His upbeat delivery was punctuated by humor and wit, which became his trademarks on the air. He retired from WIVB in 1998 after a forty-three year run.

In 2004, Van Miller became the first local play-by-play announcer to be honored by the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Ten years later his name was added to the Buffalo Bills Wall of Fame at the team’s home stadium in Orchard Park, New York.

During his final interview with WIVB-TV Senior Correspondent Rich Newberg, Miller reflected on his broadcast career in Buffalo, saying, “ That was a great ride. I was the luckiest man in the world.”

Miller coined many phrases and catchwords that added to his signature style during Bills games. During the final days of his life, when he was barely able to speak, Van Miller mustered enough energy to raise his hands from his bedsheets and utter a parting word to his Channel 4 colleagues who came to say their final goodbye. It was his word describing the euphoria when the Bills would score a winning touchdown. “Fan-damonium!” Van’s longtime WIVB-TV colleagues who were at his bedside, anchor Jacquie Walker, senior correspondent Rich Newberg, and meteorologist Don Paul, believe Miller wanted Buffalo fans to know they were still number one on his mind. ]]> Newberg, Rich (Writer, Reporter)]]> Swenson, Scott (Photographer, Editor)

]]> (publisher of digital)]]> Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Arts Director)]]> eng]]> Radioactive waste disposal in the ground -- New York (State) -- West Valley]]> Radioactive waste sites -- New York (State) -- West Valley]]> Reactor fuel reprocessing -- New York (State) -- West Valley]]>
Initial projections for the cleanup of radioactive waste pegged costs at $235 million dollars. The project, it was thought, would take seventeen years to complete. By 2018 the amount spent totaled $2.3 billion dollars. The full cleanup price tag could be in the range of $10 billion dollars, according to earlier estimates by the U.S. Department of Energy.

In 2020, forty years after the site was declared a National Demonstration Project, efforts were still underway to dismantle and remove the remaining contaminated buildings still standing on the site. Other efforts were focused on either dismantling and removing radioactive waste material from burial and storage areas or making them more secure. Environmental watchdog groups continue to raise serious questions about public safety and health.

WIVB-TV, the CBS affiliate in Buffalo, closely covered the West Valley story and presented many reports that focused on the grassroots efforts that helped shape the massive cleanup project. The movement grew in intensity as New York State and the federal government considered proposals to accept more nuclear waste at the site.

This overview is the first of five groups of television news reports, videos, and films documenting the political, economic, and social processes that led to a forty-year cleanup effort that is still in progress. The multi-billion-dollar undertaking continues to serve as a national demonstration project.

The reports and summaries that follow are compiled by WIVB-TV senior correspondent (ret.) Rich Newberg. He played a major role in covering initial events as they unfolded in the early 1980s.

Overview Summary: (1979 - 2020)

1. The Nuclear Waste Challenge
CBS report by Robert Schackne lays out the challenge: 1979
“Some 600,000 gallons of lethally radioactive liquid waste that must be disposed of by a technology that has never been developed.”

2. Migrating Radioactive Waste
WIVB-TV report by Rich Newberg: 1982
Sand “lenses” in trenches containing low level nuclear waste provide paths for migration of contaminated rain water. Sierra Club issues a warning that the “flaky” bedrock is not a suitable barrier.

3. Lessons Learned the Hard Way
Reports by WIS-TV, Columbia South Carolina: 1983
Problems at West Valley lead to a rethinking of plans to activate a similar privately-owed nuclear reprocessing plant in Barnwell, South Carolina.

4. Who Would Accept Radioactive Waste?
CBS report by Bill Curtis: 1982
The small Texas Town of Tulia considers accepting radioactive waste from sites such as West Valley. Tulia sits on top of one of the biggest salt beds in the country. Salt beds are one of three geological formations deemed suitable by the federal government to store radioactive waste.

5. West Valley Chosen for a National Demonstration Project (1980)
WIVB-TV Report by Allen Costantini: 1982
Ten years after Nuclear Fuel Services stopped operations at West Valley, control of the site is turned over to the state and federal governments and the Westinghouse Corporation. Westinghouse is the primary contractor hired to clean up the site at West Valley. The 600,000 gallons of high-level liquid waste is to be solidified into a glasslike substance and then moved to a secure storage outside of the region.

6. Entering the First Radioactive Cell for Testing
WIVB-TV Report by Rich Newberg: 1983
Rich Newberg and photographer Jay Lauder cover the first tests conducted by Westinghouse experts inside a radioactive cell where uranium was extracted from spent fuel rods. The tests would help establish the best techniques for preparing the facility for the task of solidifying the high-level liquid radioactive waste.

7. Storing the High Level Radioactive Waste
Video by CHBWV West Valley Decommissioning Team: 2015
The West Valley Demonstration project becomes the first site in U.S. history to place high level radioactive waste into long term outdoor storage. This video traces the history of the nation’s first and only commercial nuclear fuel reprocessing plant and the enormous task of cleaning up the waste it generated during its six year run, from 1966 to 1972. (see West Valley File 5 of 5 in this collection for present and future safety concerns.)

Background
West Valley is located In the Cattaraugus County Town of Ashford. It is here where Nuclear Fuel Services once served as the nation’s only commercial plant that reprocessed spent nuclear fuel rods used to produce atomic energy. The rods contained plutonium and uranium which could be recovered for reuse. The first rods were delivered to the plant in 1966, but when federal regulations toughened, the costs were deemed too much to bare. The plant closed in 1972.

The entire site initially became the responsibility of the state of New York. In 1961 the state had bought and leased 3,300 acres of West Valley land for atomic industrial use. The plant was first owned by a subsidiary of the W.R. Grace Company, which later sold the operation to Getty Oil.

The Cleanup Challenge
Hundreds of thousands of gallons of high-level radioactive liquid waste needed to be removed from underground steel storage tanks located on an eight-acre burial ground site. Another fifteen acres of burial land is also of major concern because it served as one of the nation’s six commercial burial grounds for radioactive waste. The material was buried in unlined soil trenches and included at least fourteen pounds of plutonium. Yet another burial site contained waste from the reprocessing operations at West Valley, including damaged irradiated fuel. This waste was buried in fifty-foot-deep holes.

Environmental activists, scientists from the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, and professors from the University at Buffalo pointed out that the trenches were geologically unstable, and that ground water could be contaminated and migrate from the site. In addition, the area is situated on a fault line and is potentially susceptible to earthquakes.

A group called The Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes was formed in 1974. Some of its members specialized in technical aspects of radioactive waste disposal and health effects of radiation. The Coalition began putting pressure on the state and federal governments to have the West Valley site stabilized and cleaned up. It also fought against proposals to have additional nuclear waste material brought to the site for burial, incineration, other waste processing, or disposal.

The Coalition played a major role in the creation of the West Valley Demonstration Project Act which was signed into law by President Jimmy Carter in 1980. It gave the U.S. Department of Energy the responsibility to solidify the high-level waste. It also granted the D.O.E. the authority to address the issues involved in decontaminating and decommissioning the facilities. West Valley is believed to be the only radioactive waste site in the country with its own act of Congress.

In 1982, the federal government took control of two hundred acres at the West Valley site, including the underground high level radioactive waste tanks, the high level waste burial grounds, and the contaminated buildings where nuclear fuel rods had been reprocessed.

In 1985 Congress required states to assume responsibility for the storage and management of what it termed “low level” radioactive waste generated within their borders. Watchdog groups say much of this waste is “high level” and dangerous. At West Valley, New York State maintains control over the fifteen acres of “low level” burial grounds mentioned above. This area had closed in 1975 after radioactive water had filtered through an inadequate landfill cap and found its way into surrounding streams that eventually drain into Lake Erie.

The greatest challenge to the federal government was finding a company that was capable of turning the liquid high level waste into a solid and more stable material for storage. Between 1996 and 2002, Westinghouse removed most of the high level liquid waste from the underground tanks and converted it into glass logs. It used a process known as vitrification. 275 intensely radioactive logs were formed and initially stored deep in the bowels of the reprocessing building, which helped provide shielding from the radioactivity.

In 2011, the U.S. Department of Energy selected the company that goes by the name CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley, LLC as its contractor. Its tasks were to secure the storage of the high-level waste and to demolish the closed radioactive buildings and the underground piping.

In order to secure the storage of what came out of the underground tanks, 275 stainless steel canisters containing the vitrified waste were placed in steel-lined giant concrete storage casks, each weighing 87 1/2 tons.

A 16,000 square foot reinforced concrete storage pad now holds 56 casks for what is termed “long term passive storage.” The casks are certified to hold the high-level waste for fifty years. Since there is no designated national repository for high level nuclear waste, the material must remain on the grounds of the West Valley site, at least for now.

A coalition of radioactive waste experts and concerned citizens prevented more waste from coming into West Valley and has been providing oversight of cleanup efforts since the late 1970s. As final decisions for the site are expected to be made by 2022 or 2023, critical issues of health and safety continue to be raised by these citizen watchdogs. (See File 5 of 5 in this collection for detailed concerns involving air and water contamination.)

In May 2020, the U.S. Department of Energy said its Office of Environmental Management “is continuing to make safe and steady progress with decommissioning activities at the West Valley Demonstration Project.

With regard to ongoing concerns by citizen watchdog groups, the DOE statement reads, “The goal of the extensive demolition activity air and radiation monitoring program is to detect any change in radiological conditions, so that work can be slowed, modified, or even stopped to protect employees, general public and the environment. The work is carefully planned and carried out such that all contamination is controlled within the boundaries of the demolition area. (See File 5 of 5 in this collection for the full statement by the U.S. Department of Energy.)]]> Newberg, Rich (Reporter)]]> (publisher of digital)]]> Murphy, Kurt (WIVB-TV Graphic Arts Director) ]]> Vetter, Tom (Editor)]]> Schackne, Robert (CBS News Correspondent)]]> Roberts, John (WIS-TV Columbia, South Carolina)]]> Curtis, Bill (CBS News Morning Anchor)]]> Costantini, Allen (WIVB-TV Reporter)]]> Newberg, Rich (WIVB-TV Reporter)]]> Lauder, Jay (WIVB-TV Photographer)]]> D’Arrigo, Diane (Nuclear Information and Resource Service)]]> Resnikoff, Marvin (Nuclear Physicist) ]]> Hameister, Joanne (The Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes) ]]> Vaughan, Ray (The Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes)]]> Shepp, Amanda (Coordinator of Special Collections & Archives, SUNY Fredonia) ]]> Pillittere, Joe (Communications Manager for West Valley contractor)]]> Bower, Brian (DOE Director for West Valley Demonstration Project)]]> Bembia, Paul (NYSERDA Director at West Valley)]]> eng]]>