Niagara, N.Y. (WBEN) - In their continued effort to help address questions and concerns for property owners in the Town of Niagara, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) hosted its first of three public drop-in sessions that allow residents to speak directly with agency representatives, ask questions about the investigation, and learn what to expect if work is conducted on their property.
Thursday's first meeting saw, at least, a few dozen residents show up at the Calvin K. Richards Senior/Youth Activity Center, hoping to get more clarity on what will come of the testing being conducted for possible radioactive contamination in their area.
"We've been knocking on doors, we've been making calls, we've been going to the community, and we want to make sure there's a place where the community can come to us so that we can continue to make sure that we're delivering for Western New York, and continue to make sure that we're proactively out in the field answering people's questions," said DEC commissioner Amanda Lefton during a visit to Western New York earlier this week.
For concerned residents like Shannon Newell, she was hoping to find some relief after officials showed up at her house for testing.
"It was overwhelming. They did a lot of testing in two short days, and brought my results and gave me a lot of information," Newell said in an interview with WBEN. "But I think everything is moving quickly, but slowly at the same time. They're still learning a whole lot, and that's basically what they said."
At this point, Newell's biggest concern is the timing of the test results.
"We asked them for a specific timeline, of course they can't give me that," she said. "I asked, 'Is this going to be years?' And they were, like, 'Absolutely not, absolutely not.' So I said, 'Is this going to take until next year?' Because I have to have soil sampling done, and then the removal, and they were hoping that it won't go into next year, that the removal will be based on the weather. But hopefully moving very quickly."
In addition, Newell is awaiting for more testing of her property, while also trying to better deal with communication concerns with DEC officials.
"You get one thing from one person, another thing from another person. I kind of questioned them on if some of the residents will get a point of contact, and that's just not feasible at this point," she added.
For one Town of Niagara resident, she is more concerned about her one property close to where the radioactive contamination has already affected other properties, and was hoping to get more answers on how that could affect her ability to sell the home.
"I'm just gonna wait for my report so I can attach it with the paperwork. I'm talking to someone that's interested, so just to reassure that person that I don't have any issues. But other than that, it's the only reason I really came here," she said with WBEN.
While she shares some concerns over the recent findings by DEC and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials, she is not ready to panic just yet. However, she admits she is frustrated over one aspect of this situation.
"The Facebook trolls are just ridiculous, because they're just making matters worse. To be honest with you, I really think they are," she said. "All of a sudden, everyone's an environmentalist now with their high school education, and they're just making matters worse. I get those particular handful of people had issues, and some of those people that are commenting on Facebook don't even live in the Town of Niagara, so they just need to stay out of it."
Meanwhile, one other Niagara resident knows there are areas of concern that DEC officials are aware of.
"In the town, we all know the junkyards from the war projects near TAM Ceramic and the drum factory, there's a hot yard over there," the resident shared with WBEN. "My uncle has owned that property for years, my other uncle owns another property on 31. I own a house in the suburbs of the Deveaux area, so I've got my questions about over there because we used to get a lot of the slag from there to build our garages, our driveways, and stuff like that. So it's more they know where it's coming from. I just wanted information for myself, for my own family, and I'm trying to protect what we know that needs to be protected."
He feels Thursday's public drop-in session proved to be more resourceful than he originally anticipated.
"I just wanted to know what their next steps are, how they're doing it. They've given me more information, they've explained some of the process that they're already in the process of doing and mediating stuff. And saying that it will be covered by them, homeowners do not have to pay for it. I thought if we find stuff on our property, we've got to pay for it. No, the EPA and the federal government's paying for it," he said.
Going forward, he intends to follow the developments of what the DEC and EPA find very closely.
"What I would like to see them do is Airport Auto and Dave's Auto Wrecking and TAM Ceramic, all them yards need to be tested because there's a lot of auto parts that come out of them yards over there," he said. "And with the roller project and stuff, that all should be looked at top priority. And I'm hoping somebody catches on and looks very fast. And then everybody that is in the area gets either some sort of compensation, or everything's taken care of to make the community safer."
As of Tuesday, more than 300 property owners have signed access agreements, allowing teams to conduct radiological surveys and determine whether more detailed investigation is needed.
Teams have surveyed hundreds of properties and other locations throughout the areas of interest. After each survey, NYSDEC and EPA specialists review the results along with conditions specific to the property. For many properties, that review has determined that no additional investigation is needed.
Where results warrant a closer look, the agencies contact the property owner to arrange more detailed surveys or sampling.
The other two public drop-in sessions are scheduled for Aug. 3 and Aug. 10, both going from 3 p.m.-to-7 p.m. at the Calvin K. Richards Senior/Youth Activity Center.
Residents can also speak with agency representatives through a public hotline at (518)-712-8279 available weekdays from 8 a.m.-to-6 p.m. Calls received outside those hours will be returned as soon as possible.
