Comment submitted by Victor DiGiacomo, Eighteenmile Creek Remedial Action Plan Coordinator, Niagara County Soil & Water Conservation District

On behalf of the Niagara County Soil & Water Conservation District, as lead agancy for the management of the Eighteenmile Creek Area of Concern, I am commenting to confirm our support of the proposed addition of Eighteenmile Creek to the National Priorities List (NPL). Eighteenmile Creek has been designated as a Great Lakes Area of Concern within the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between the United States and Canada. The Eighteenmile Creek Area of Concern is one of the most toxic “hot spots” in the Great Lakes Basin. Located in Lockport, NY the Eighteenmile Creek Corridor Site has been identified by NYSDEC as a Class 2 Inactive Hazardous Waste Disposal Site and a source to the historic sediment contamination that is present in Eighteenmile Creek. The Eighteenmile Creek Corridor Site is contaminated primarily with lead and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) which pose a significant threat to human health associated with current and potential exposure to soils and sediment and a significant environmental threat associated with current and potential impacts of contaminants to Eighteenmile Creek. Attached you will find a draft Remedial Strategy developed to guide the delisitng of impaired beneficial uses of Eighteenmile Creek. Sediment remediation work proposed under a potential NPL project for Eighteenmile Creek in Lockport, NY and Newfane, NY, is consistent with the identinfied and attached plan to delist Eighteenmile Creek as an Area of Concern. We hope that the Area of Concern designation of Eighteenmile Creek and the overall goal of USEPA to delist Area's of Concern in the Great Lakes Basin will not only assist in the successful inclusion of the site to the NPL, but will also push the site to the top of the NPL listing as a PRIORITY. Regards, Victor DiGiacomo Eighteenmile Creek Remedial Action Plan Coordinator