What has happened to the Onondaga lands taken by New York?
In the more than 200 years since the adoption of the U.S. Constitution and the enactment of the Trade and Intercourse Acts, the Onondaga Nation’s original land base has suffered vast reductions. New York’s illegal takings were followed by more than a century of industrial chemical production and manufacturing on parts of the taken land. As a result, parts of the claim area are among the most polluted sites in the United States. Perhaps the most dramatic impact has been on Onondaga Lake, which has been designated a Superfund site by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Within the waters and sediments of the lake, EPA has found dangerous levels of numerous hazardous materials, including pesticides, creosote, polycyclic hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds, lead, cobalt, mercury, and polychlorinated biphenyls. These last four substances are on the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry’s list of the twenty most toxic substances. In addition to Onondaga Lake, E
