Keep an eye on Chemours Closing: Excuse to treat frackwater, hike taxes, water rates

Niagara Falls -Keep an eye on the Chemours closing.

Chemours plans to close its Niagara Falls plant by the end of this  year, eliminating about 200 jobs at the Buffalo Avenue factory.

The Niagara Falls plant makes reactive metals for specialty chemicals industries such as pharmaceutical, pulp and paper and others. It is a DuPont spin off.

With the loss for both the city in taxes and water board in water fees, expect Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster to cite the loss as an excuse to raise taxes and for the water board to cite the loss as a reason to jack up water rates.

The Chemours closing is being tied to a major loss of water service revenue, but haven’t all of those new hotels created significant increases in water revenue for the water board?

Now that Chemours is leaving, also keep an eye on the fracking water treatment scenario. For years water board members have said the water plant can handle frack water treatment with no problem and that the loss of water revenue from Chemours has to be made up somehow and that fracking water treatment is the way to go.