Residents and others questioned plans for a proposed plastics packaging factory in Lockport, N.Y., at a July 13 public hearing.
The Town of Lockport Industrial Development Agency did not take any action on the issue, putting off the vote for later.
Comments covered a wide range of opinions and included several people who questioned why the community would subsidize a plastics facility. A majority who spoke opposed the project.
"These are professionals. We're not left-wing people hugging the trees. We're teachers; we're artists; we're people who really care and are willing to listen," one said.
Beyond Plastics, a Bennington, Vt.-based group that encourages grassroots efforts to end plastics pollution, sent a letter on June 29 to the development agency urging members to reject public subsidies for the project.
Some speakers at the hearing echoed Beyond Plastics' arguments. Margaux Valente, who represents the Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper organization, cited the potential for pellet pollution.
"We know the plastic is ending up in the waterways. We know that there will be plastic pollution. It's just inevitable with this kind of manufacturing," she said.
A Sierra Club representative from Amherst, N.Y., said she was concerned about the end products that the plant will produce.
"Sierra Club in general is not real thrilled about putting more plastics into the environment," she said.
Varun Kumar Velumani, president and owner of SRI CV Plastics Inc., said the proposed plant would injection mold containers including dairy and produce packaging.
"We are not producing any raw material in the facility" and will not produce air or water pollution, Velumani said. "We are creating jobs."
One speaker who said he was representing "a coalition of concerned manufacturers in Canada" said the company's plans would "fit into Ontario's wish for sustainability."
"We wish you great luck here. But should you not be successful, come up to Ontario," he said. Several other speakers also spoke in favor of the project.
SRI CV Plastics, which is based in Perundurai, India, has proposed building a 13,870-square-foot factory on land that it would purchase from the Lockport Industrial Development Agency.
The company estimates the cost of the project at $2.34 million and said it would create 20 full-time jobs.
SRI CV Plastics is seeking $600,000 in state and local assistance for the project. According to the company's application for assistance, the proposed plant would be the company's first U.S. facility.
In the application for assistance, the company said it would initially make single-use food packaging, and a second phase would make PVC pipe for agricultural use.
Some speakers questioned the validity of some information that SRI CV Plastics officials had shared prior to the meeting.
Lourdes Vera, a University of Buffalo professor and expert on environmental health, pointed out that while the company is emphasizing now that it will make plastics packaging, its application also says it plans to make PVC pipe. Vera and others expressed specific concerns about the safety of vinyl products.
She also said a study that the company circulated to justify the project was apparently generated by artificial intelligence. Vera said she tried unsuccessfully to confirm the validity of the study.
"I do not trust the information that we are receiving from the company," Vera said.
Some 17 people attended the hearing, which was an unusually large turnout, according to a local report, and 13 submitted written comments prior to the meeting.