Niagara, N.Y. (WBEN) - After New York Gov. Kathy Hochul says she will not be visiting residents affected by radioactive contamination in the Town of Niagara last week, one resident voices her shared frustration with the governor and her state agencies.
In a visit to Chautauqua County this past Thursday, Hochul says unlike other figures in the region, she has no interest in trying to politicize what is happening in the Town of Niagara.
"I am putting the people on the ground, the experts. My Commissioner of Health [James McDonald] has been there, my head of the Department of Environmental Conservation [Amanda Lefton] has been there, our emergency management people have been there. If I go there, it's a political show, and I'm not going to use politics to capitalize on people's misery. I'm not the kind of politician will ever do that. Others have," said Gov. Hochul while in Fredonia, 65 miles away from Niagara.
Upon hearing the governor's remarks, Lexi Hawk, resident and a member of Save Our Backyards Niagara, was disappointed that Hochul doesn't intend to meet with fellow residents affected by radioactive testing.
"It wouldn't have to be a political show for her. She is our governor, she is the leader. She should have been here from Day 1 when we sent her the original letter," said Hawk in an interview with WBEN. "She's been neglectful, her agencies have been neglectful. They've withheld that information from the radiological surveys for two years until they sent out that original letter in March, and they still haven't released the true data. Her Department of Health has been missing, they've been MIA. All that they have done is get up on a stage at a convention center and talk about, 'You get radiation when you get on an airplane or when you go to Denver, Colorado.' But I am not in Denver, Colorado. I'm in my backyard in New York State."
Gov. Hochul also said Thursday she's proud of the work the State DEC has done over the last couple years with aerial surveillance and road surveillance, leading to the identification of thousands-and-thousands of acres of land, look further for radiological hotspots. While she says she understands that residents are frightened, Hochul adds their health and peace of mind is the most important thing she's working on with the DEC at this time.
However, Hawk feels certain officials are hiding, while others are straight up avoiding residents looking for answers.
"Since that convention center, they have not wanted to speak with us," Hawk said. "I've tried to call the commissioner [Lefton], she used to answer the phone for me or call me back at least. She's given me a different person of contact, the only person I talked to is named Stanley Radon, and I don't even know what his position is there, but he's not the commissioner. And the Department of Health has not reached out at all to any of us. And my daughter's pediatrician won't even do any testing on her until the Department of Health gives them guidance."
Because of that, Hawk says her confidence and the community's confidence in the DEC is fading fast, as is the trust in Gov. Hochul.
"It's just disappointing that she's turning her back to us," she said. "It's a slap in the face that she's 25 minutes away in Buffalo at a fundraiser birthday event, and meanwhile, I'm sitting in my house still, it's contaminated. Just wondering if I'm safe, if my daughter's safe, and knowing that the state has turned their back to me."
If Hochul does happen to change her mind and make a trip to visit Niagara residents about contamination concerns, Hawk would certainly have a message for the governor.
"I would want to explain to her the whole story, because maybe she's not aware of it all. Maybe she's not aware of how her Department of Health is acting," Hawk said. "When you call the Department of Health, you actually get a voicemail from COVID, which was years ago. We're in 2026, and it's still a COVID voicemail, and you don't get a call back. So I need to tell her that she needs to fix that. She needs to get them here, and that she needs to do a better job. She needs to be endorsing the legislation that [State Sen.] Rob Ortt put out there, and instead she's just hiding from us. It's just sad. She's from here, she should be here."
She adds for anyone dealing with contamination or if they're afraid that they are, get tested, while also staying in the loop with more information from Save Our Backyard Niagara on Facebook.
