Cattaraugus Creek is a stream, approximately 68 miles (109 km) long, in western New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The creek drains a wooded rural portion of western New York southwest of Buffalo

Buffalo, New York

Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...

 into Lake Erie

Lake Erie

Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the tenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...

. In its lower course it flows primarily through the Cattaraugus Reservation

Cattaraugus Reservation

Cattaraugus Reservation is an Indian reservation of the Seneca Indian Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy located in New York. As of the 2000 census, the Indian reservation had a total population of 2,412. Its total area is about 34.4 mi²...

 of the Seneca tribe

Seneca nation

The Seneca are a group of indigenous people native to North America. They were the nation located farthest to the west within the Six Nations or Iroquois League in New York before the American Revolution. While exact population figures are unknown, approximately 15,000 to 25,000 Seneca live in...

. The word "Cattaraugus" means "foul-smelling river bank." This name is a result of the natural gas that oozes from the river mud.

Description

The creek rises in Java Lake

Java, New York

Java is a town in Wyoming County, New York, United States. The population was 2,222 at the 2000 census. In the 2007 estimate, this had declined to 2,153.Contrary to practice elsewhere, the name is pronounced "Jay-vuh"....

 in Wyoming County

Wyoming County, New York

Wyoming County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. At the 2010 census, the population was 42,155. The county seat is Warsaw. The name is from a modified Delaware Indian word meaning "broad bottom lands"...

. In the Village of Arcade

Arcade (village), New York

Arcade is a village in Wyoming County, New York, in the United States. The population was 2,026 at the 2000 census.The Village of Arcade in located in the southwest part of the Town of Arcade...

 it joins Clear Creek. As it flows westward out of Wyoming County to the hamlet of Yorkshire

Yorkshire (town), New York

Yorkshire is a town in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. The population was 4,210 at the 2000 census.The Town of Yorkshire is located on the northern edge and the northeast quadrant of the county.- History :...

, the creek forms the boundary between the south part of Erie County

Erie County, New York

Erie County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 919,040. The county seat is Buffalo. The county's name comes from Lake Erie, which in turn comes from the Erie tribe of American Indians who lived south and east of the lake before 1654.Erie...

 and the northern borders of Chautauqua

Chautauqua County, New York

-Major highways:* Interstate 86/New York State Route 17 * Interstate 90 * U.S. Route 20* U.S. Route 62* New York State Route 5* New York State Route 39* New York State Route 60* New York State Route 394...

 and Cattaraugus

Cattaraugus County, New York

Cattaraugus County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 80,317. The county seat is Little Valley.-History:...

 counties.
A tributary known as the "South Branch of the Cattaraugus Creek" originates in Cattaraugus, New York

Cattaraugus, New York

Cattaraugus is a village in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. The population was 1,075 at the 2000 census.The Village of Cattaraugus lies in the northeast part of the Town of New Albion, north of Salamanca, New York.- History :...

 and flows northwest to the main Cattaraugus Creek along the Persia

Persia, New York

Persia is a town in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. The population was 2,512 at the 2000 census.The Town of Persia is in the northwest part of the county.- History :The town was first settled around 1812....

-Otto

Otto, New York

Otto is a town in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. The population was 831 at the 2000 census. The name comes from Jacob S. Otto, an agent of the Holland Land Company.The Town of Otto lies on the northern border of the county.- History :...

 town line, joining the main creek just east of the village of Gowanda.

It flows through the Village of Gowanda

Gowanda, New York

Gowanda is a village in New York in the United States and lies partly in Erie County and partly in Cattaraugus County. The population was 2,842 at the 2000 census. The name is a local native term meaning "almost surrounded by hills" or "beautiful place among the hills...

, which straddles the creek and is thereby in two counties. To the east of Gowanda, the Cattaraugus Creek passes through the Zoar Valley Multiple Use Area. This conservation zone is a favorite recreation area for fishing and rafting.
Along its lower course it flows past the hamlet of Versailles

Perrysburg (town), New York

Perrysburg is a town in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. The population was 1,771 at the 2000 census. The Town is named after Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry.The Town of Perrysburg is in the northeast corner of the county...

, on the south bank of the creek in Cattaraugus Reservation. It flows into Lake Erie by Sunset Bay in the Town of Hanover

Hanover, New York

Hanover is a town in Chautauqua County, New York, United States. The population was 7,638 at the 2000 census.The Town of Hanover lies in the northeast corner of Chautauqua County.- History :The first settler arrived in 1796....

 in Chautauqua County.

Each year around October to November, thousands of fishermen descend on the lower course of Cattaraugus Creek to take advantage of the annual steelhead trout runs.

Nuclear Waste

Although almost all of the high level nuclear waste has been removed according to the Department of Energy

United States Department of Energy

The United States Department of Energy is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government concerned with the United States' policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material...

http://www.wv.doe.gov/, nuclear and hazardous wastes are still buried in unlined trenches on two sites at a former privately operated nuclear fuels reprocessing facility alongside Cattaraugus Creek north of the village of West Valley in Cattaraugus County. The U.S. Dept. of Energy's Demonstration Project at the site transferred high-level nuclear waste into glass canisters.

Reprocessing of spent fuel rods from military and civilian nuclear power plants between 1966 and 1972 resulted in burial of low-level radioactive waste (LLNW) on 22 acres (89,030.9 m²) and burial of high-level radioactive waste on another 7 acres (28,328 m²).

The facility, closed in 1972, was begun in 1961 by Nuclear Fuel Services (NFS), a subsidiary of W.R. Grace & Co. (the focus of the book and film, "A Civil Action") and American Machine & Foundry, on 3345 acres (13.5 km²) of land leased from the State of New York. The Atomic Energy Commission reported in 1966 that 5 million USgals (18,927.1 m³) of liquid radioactive wastes were discharged into on-site streams and Cattaraugus Creek, into which on-site streams flow.

These activities were authorized by the State of New York, title owner of the entire site through its agency New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), successor to the Atomic Energy Commission. NYSERDA holds a license from the NRC, which has ultimate jurisdiction over high-level nuclear wastes.

Getty Oil took over the site in the 1970s and continued receiving nuclear fuel rods and dumping nuclear waste until 1976 when, after numerous releases to the ground and atmosphere, public concern over contamination led the DEC to withdraw its permit for discharges into Buttermilk Creek. This, together with more stringent federal regulations and greater economic competition for nuclear waste disposal led NFS to shut the plant down. New York State was left holding the property.
Although cleanup of some high-level nuclear wastes has begun, regarding LLNW the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has said, "There is no intent to recover the wastes once they are buried." One question this poses is under what conditions may high-level nuclear wastes, once processed to remove a certain quantity of materials or to dilute those materials,be reclassified as "LLNW?"