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The following is a letter sent to the Niagara Gazette Newspaper from the TEP, which includes the apology listed to the right, from some recent polluters on the Nation.  If you need assistance in catching garbage dumpers on the Nation please call the Environment Office at 609.3810

To the editor:

     A recent case of illegal dumping on the Tuscarora Nation illustrated a fairly common method of disposing garbage and a fairly common attitude toward solid waste problems in general. We are taught to believe from an early age that our garbage is someone else’s responsibility: by elementary school custodians who clean by night; by waste management companies who remove the garbage from our homes to a landfill; or by the government agencies who clean countless abandoned hazardous waste sites. It is a truly disposable world that will only change when people consider the production of garbage as important, and costly, as the disposal of garbage. Controlling irresponsible disposal of garbage- household hazardous waste, cigarette wrappers, refrigerators, etc.- may seem insurmountable. But a few people have been considering the alternatives.

    For over forty years now, Tuscarora residents volunteer to clean roadside trash every spring.

Still organized by the Tuscarora Temperance League, the cleanup event preceded contemporary “Earth Day” or “Adopt-A-Highway” programs. Many vigilant Tuscarora residents still continue to report illegal dumping cases along the roadside directly to the Environment Program and the Police. This is an uphill battle because the polluter has the advantage, using the cover of night and less traveled roads. On June 10, George Rickard, a Nation resident, approached a car parked alongside a remote road on the reservation. Paint was being dumped along side the road, which runs through a forested wetland. The car fled, followed by George for over two miles, when the police eventually showed up. George and his father Norton Rickard have been watching the roadsides and catching polluters for a long time now and we owe them a debt of gratitude. The Rickard families, like many other Tuscarora residents, are keen observers and responsive

 responsive stewards of their environment. With helpful assistance from local police agencies, the Nation has made arrangements to arrange for the cleanup of any contamination left by the polluter and to publish a letter of apology. A small price to pay, considering some town fines for dumping exceed two thousand dollars and require cleanup of the site. Recent discussions with the Town of Lewiston and the New York State Police have indicated that a comparable fine for polluters may be worked out. I hope this letter may deter those in the future who are looking for a shortcut, and encourage those to be accountable for the waste they produce and consume.

 Sincerely,

Neil Patterson Jr.

Director,

Tuscarora Environment Program

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