Niagara Falls, N.Y. (WBEN) - A family dealing with toxic waste concerns at their 99th Street home - near the Love Canal Superfund site in Niagara Falls - is hoping to soon have their home added to the New York State or Federal Superfund, while being provided immediate relocation.
After excavating a pool on July 13, 2026, Daniel and Jocelyn McKiernan discovered toxic waste on their property at levels substantially above the State Superfund Soil Cleanup Objectives (SCOs). Their property is 300 feet from the Love Canal Federal Superfund site.
In response to the family of five's call for help, Dr. David Carpenter from the University at Albany, Luella Kenny - a Love Canal national leader - and four other organizations joined the McKiernans in a call on New York Gov. Hochul, and officials with the State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to immediately add their property to Federal or State Superfund with immediate relocation.
"We made a formal request to the governor, to the Department of Health, to the Department of Environmental Conservation on July 28, requesting immediate relocation. On July 30, our eldest son, who is severely differently abled, wrote a letter stating that due to the chemicals and metals alone, it's necessary that the family be relocated in as timely fashion as possible. Both the DEC and DOH responded to our family after these analytical data points and the letter from the pediatrician, including letters from the service coordination team, stating that four of his service coordinators cannot come into the home after their experts evaluated these analytical data points. They sent a joint letter, stating, 'Based on the information we have at this time, we cannot condone relocation. There is no immediate threat.' That's where we stand today," said Daniel McKiernan on Monday.
The McKiernan’s 4-year-old son, Emmitt, who is unable to play in his backyard or swim in his new pool, exclaimed to a neighbor: “Our house is dangerous and no one will save us.”
Recently, the McKiernan's and Attorney Christen Civiletto discovered a 1993 report by the Departments of Environmental Conservation and Health (DEC DOH) which confirmed that the agencies concealed information about the grossly inadequate "limited" remediation of their property which left behind large amounts of toxic waste.
State agency documents from 1991-to-1993 confirm that the agencies deliberately left toxic waste on the McKiernan's property at 1026 99th Street (this property includes half of the old 9903 Black Creek Drive property, which reports revealed is polluted with BHC, mercury, and other Love Canal-related toxic chemicals.) A crushed barrel with “thick black viscous liquid,” later confirmed to be chemicals, was found near the property line. There is black sludge in their sump pump and basement wall cracks.
The McKiernans told DEC:
- Black sludge is coming in through their basement walls, sump, and sewer piping;
- Black light testing shows the fluorescence of hydrocarbons;
- Strong odors are detectable outside and inside the home, especially near a second floor drain;
- The second floor drain foams;
- A portion of the yard sank four inches overnight after a rain; it sank two more inches thereafter;
- An orange material surfaces at the home periodically;
- Waste is visible at surface in multiple points throughout their yard.
The McKiernans also provided the 1991 and 1993 reports that showed historic contamination at their home.
"We're 300 feet from the Love Canal cap, where 10 feet away from the McKiernan cap. They did this excavation here, where they removed all the material that had been brought up during the pool excavation, leveling and installation, while our family was still in the hole. So it created an abundant amount of dust that made its way into our home without allowing relocation. Now the DEC Superfund engineer stated to us, 'Oh, well, everything's covered now. There's no risk, or there's limited risk.' Then multiple days later, we identified that beneath our deck, those same cores, those same rods, same stained ash layer is visible on top of the soil. That same group tried to fastly have a team come in and extract that material, that material being two inches away from our sliding glass door, to which we said, 'No. You're not going to kick up more dust, tou're not going to do more of this with our family still here. We'll allow for testing and investigation, but no more remedial work while our family is still here,'" McKiernan added.
Finally, DEC Region 9 Superfund staff became involved. They removed the waste pile and covered it with 17 tons of sand and soil and a plastic liner, claiming they would do geoprobes to test it later. They plan further testing in August but will not move the family. EPA has been contacted; it defers to NYSDEC until asked to intervene.
"I, myself, have experienced five miscarriages in less than three years. Our oldest son has developed a seizure disorder. Our youngest child has had a series of chronic respiratory issues, unexplained rashes. And then our middle child has experienced several nervous system dysregulations. That's all we have now," added Jocelyn McKiernan. "We're still fighting this battle, we're still asking for relocation. We're still asking that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation do the right thing. They should have done the right thing in 1988 and 1992, when they had this information. And when you know better, you do better. Let's hope this time they do better."
Toxic waste was discovered at the property on 99th Street in Niagara Falls near the Love Canal Superfund site
Toxic waste was discovered at the property on 99th Street in Niagara Falls near the Love Canal Superfund site
