Local officials are objecting to the decision to allow Amigone Funeral Home's crematorium in the Town of Tonawanda to reopen, four months after the emission of thick black smoke one morning prompted its temporary shut down.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation issued a consent order allowing operations at Amigone's Sheridan Park Crematory to resume as of Monday, according to State Sen. Sean Ryan, D-Buffalo, and Assemblyman Bill Conrad, D-Tonawanda, whose districts include the facility at 2600 Sheridan Drive.
The DEC had investigated since September, after Shannon Patch, a Tonawanda Town Board member, took a picture of the plume of dark smoke rising from the facility's smoke stack as she drove past on Sept. 9. The black smoke was released for about an hour that day.
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Amigone voluntarily stopped conducting any more cremations at the site and the state later suspended operations while the DEC reviewed Sheridan Park's internal report of the incident and corrective measures put in place by the company.
The DEC's letter of violation to Amigone stated the thick black smoke occurred during the second cremation of the day, and Sheridan Park reported to the agency the facility's pollution controls were bypassed because of problems with that cremation.
Patch, Ryan, Conrad and other town officials last fall urged the DEC to revoke Amigone's permission to operate the crematory and relocate the operation. Neighbors for years have complained about the facility as a source of foul-smelling air pollution in the area.
The crematory was shut down in 2012, for violating its state permit, but Amigone installed new pollution controls and the DEC allowed it to reopen in 2018.
Monday, Conrad and Ryan welcomed new provisions included in the consent order but said they remain disappointed in the decision to allow crematory operations to resume.
“We have been through this before, and the public has a right to be highly skeptical of what's happening at Amigone," Ryan said in a statement that also called for the DEC to hold a public forum on the matter. "I have questions, and the public has questions, about the health impact on surrounding neighborhoods."
The order required Amigone to install new mechanics and software designed to reduce pressure inside the exhaust stack and to install a monitor that continually checks the temperature inside the stack, the legislators reported. Amigone also has made changes to its operating procedures that, in case of an emergency, will allow the manufacturer to shut down the facility.
Amigone had blamed "miscommunication" with the manufacturer as one reason behind the Sept. 9 emission, the DEC noted.
The order also states Amigone must wait two hours between cremations and must take care not to schedule large cremations back to back in one day.
A stack test will take place next week and the DEC will assess those results.
"It seems to me that even with these increased regulations our community will not be adequately protected," Conrad said in the statement.
Amigone also was fined $7,500 as part of the consent order.
“A fee and a slap on the wrist aren’t enough," Patch said. "They will continue to pump black smoke into our air, and that is not OK. Tonawanda residents deserve better.”
A representative for Amigone did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday afternoon. A DEC spokesman said the agency would keep a close eye on the crematorium to ensure the company lives up to the order.
"DEC’s consent order levies penalties and requires full compliance under the state’s stringent air quality requirements to ensure public health and the environment are protected," the agency said in a statement. "In addition, DEC required Sheridan Park to perform corrective measures prior to resuming regular operations."
