Akwesasne residents have concerns about proposed hydrogen facility in N.Y. state

Ka’nhehsí:io Deer

Residents of Akwesasne are concerned about plans to develop a hydrogen fa‐ cility near the Kanien'ke‐ há:ka (Mohawk) commu‐ nity.

Air Products and Chemi‐ cals Inc., an industrial gas company, is proposing to construct the facility in Massena, N.Y., about 30 kilo‐ metres west of Akwesasne, which straddles the Quebec, Ontario and New York state borders.

Dr. Ojistoh Horn, a family physician with the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne's de‐ partment of health for the last nine years, is leading ef‐ forts to raise awareness of community concerns with the project.

"This was a place where people went to pick medi‐ cines and get healthy," said Horn, a board member of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environ‐ ment.

"We still lost so much and have been removed from our ability to steward the land."

While the company has consulted the environment division of the St. Regis Mo‐ hawk Tribe (the elected gov‐ ernment on the U.S. side), she said the community which is split between the United States and Canada was largely unaware of the project.

"It totally doesn't go with free prior and informed con‐ sent," said Horn.

The facility will produce up to 35 tonnes per day of liquid hydrogen by elec‐ trolysis using water from the St. Lawrence River. The hy‐ drogen is intended for use as a low-carbon fuel in the transportation industry.

Any water discharge, or effluent, from the facility is proposed to flow to the Massena Power Canal, which connects to the lower Grasse River and eventually back to the St. Lawrence.

In December, Air Products applied to New York state for a State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) permit for wastewater dis‐ charge.

Horn is among a grass‐ roots group of residents call‐ ing for the permit to be de‐ nied. Their concerns include the clearing of the land for

the plant, truck traffic of highly flammable liquid hy‐ drogen, the consumption of water from the river, and the contents and temperature of the effluent.

The effects of the waste‐ water discharge on the al‐ ready contaminated river al‐ so concern Horn.

"How they discharge the effluent, that upsets me…. It's how it disturbs sleeping gi‐ ants," said Horn.

"It's not just so much that we don't want any more envi‐ ronmental [harm], we don't want to disturb what has been put to sleep."

The New York State De‐ partment of Environmental Conservation, which is work‐ ing with both Massena and St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, said in an emailed statement that it will evaluate all comments and prepare a response to comments before a final de‐ cision is made on the permit application.

History of industrial pol‐ lutants

Both Akwesasne and Massena sit along an indus‐ trialized stretch of the St. Lawrence River, or Kani‐ atarowanenneh in Kanien'kéha. For decades, hazardous wastes from in‐ dustry contaminated both the land and water.

An 80-kilometre stretch of the river remains a desig‐ nated "area of concern" by Canada, the United States and Akwesasne.

The proposed hydrogen facility site is adjacent to Al‐ coa West, an aluminum man‐ ufacturing plant. Alcoa's past production released haz‐ ardous substances, like PCBs, onto its property and through outfalls to the Grasse River and Massena Power Canal.

Remediation work at the Grasse River site, including laying a cap over PCB-conta‐ minated sediment in the riv‐ er, was completed in 2021.

"I'm very concerned that the effluent discharge from Air Products is going to dis‐ rupt the PCBs that have been so-called-sequestrated,"

Horn said.

The Town of Massena is‐ sued a negative declaration in its environmental review of the project in June 2023, de‐ ciding the project won't have a significant impact on the environment.

Consultation with St. Regis Mohawk Tribe

Air Products said in an emailed statement that it takes public concerns about the project seriously.

The company said it had numerous engagements with the leadership of the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe and will host a public information meeting for all residents at the Akwesasne Mohawk Cas‐ ino, on the U.S. side of the border.

"The meeting offers com‐ munity members an oppor‐ tunity to meet with Air Prod‐ ucts' project leadership and ask questions they may have," said spokesman Art George.

"Air Products always strives to be a good corpo‐ rate citizen and goes over and above regulatory guide‐ lines many times in its opera‐ tions."

A news release from the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe said it is aware of the concerns about the environmental re‐ view process and pollution allegations, and that it is committed to protecting the community's health and safe‐ guarding ecosystems.

"The legacy of these sites is ongoing, and we have ele‐ vated residuals of PCBs and other contaminants in our fish," Tony David, director of the environmental division at the Saint Regis Mohawk

Tribe, told CBC Indigenous.

"I think it's perfectly un‐ derstandable that our com‐ munity is risk averse when it comes to industrial manufac‐ turing."

David said, based on their review of the project, it fits as a renewable energy develop‐ ment.

The environment division conducted its own review of the State Environmental Quality Review and assessed potential impacts, and de‐ cided it is well regulated and that permit requirements are protective of both aquatic re‐ sources and public health.

"The state of New York has very strict, very stringent requirements when it comes to protecting aquatic re‐ sources and the effluent that is coming from Air Products is no different," said David.

The public information meeting will be held March 11.