'My American Dream is now sitting on toxic waste'

TOWN OF NIAFARA, N.Y. (WBEN).....Levels of radioactive contamination are not the only thing rising in Niagara County - so are levels of frustration from both impacted and potentially impacted homeowners.

That was evident from speaker after speaker during the latest information session, organized by the grassroots-created Save Our Backyards Western New York, and attended by several hundred people Tuesday night at the Frontier Fire Hall in the Town of Niagara.

Like a meeting held last month in Niagara Falls, Tuesday's information session was organized by homeowners for homeowners and bereft of elected officials and representatives from either the DEC or EPA.

"We are living the same nightmare together," said Carolyn Johnson, whose Fox Street house in the Town of Niagara's Military Park neighborhood is one of four considered ground zero for contamination from long buried radioactive materials.

The Johnsons have lived in their house for 36 years and have been heavily impacted by rare forms of cancer and cancer-related deaths of pet dogs.

"Our American dream is sitting on toxic waste," Johnson said. "None of us want to return to a house that is poisoning us."

Since the issue became public in early July, large swaths of Niagara County - including neighborhoods in Niagara Falls, the Town of Niagara and bleeding into portions of Erie County, have been identified as homes with high levels of chemical contamination.

Local attorney and environmental activist Christen Civiletto said through her own research there are at least 89 hazardous waste sites in the City of Niagara Falls and more than 250 in all of Niagara County.

Much of the contamination comes from chemical plants dating back to the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s including waste from those companies working on the Manhattan Project.

"The bottom line: This is a very significant issue," Civiletto said.

Luella Kenny, an original Love Canal homeowner dating back to 1978, offered lessons for many of the impacted families.

Much of what Kenny and others in the Love Canal are similar to what is happening 48 years later - meaning the discovery of long-buried contaminated waste and a slow, if benign response, from public sector agenciies and government.

"You have to be very strong to withstand all of this," Kenny said. " This is a fight-- a fight that has to be done."

The end game, for many, is to convince Gov. Kathy Hochul and state officials to add radioactive contamination as an eligible inclusion into the New York's Superfund program. Such a move would help families with the myriad of relocation issues they face.

Thus far, Hochul has been reluctant despite growing bi-partisan support for the homeowners.

One of the ongoing central themes - not only on Tuesday night - but for more than one month is the continue to pressure state leaders to making the Superfund adjustment.

"Behind every number is real people," said Lexi Hawk, who like Carolyn Johnson, has a house at ground zone in Military Park. "We are not statistics. We are not dots on a map. We are real people."