Officials from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation have once again denied a request for relocation from the owners of a home on 99th Street near Love Canal in Niagara Falls.
In a letter delivered Friday to homeowners Jocelyn and Daniel McKiernan, two officials from the DEC said the agency is interested in conducting additional soil sampling but still maintains existing on-site conditions pose no “immediate” threats to the couple and their three children.
The letter described potential exposure risk from contaminants found on the property as being limited to “direct contact,” while noting the state health department has advised the couple how to “best avoid” contact with the materials, “as an added precaution to other measures in place.”
In the letter, assistant director of environmental remediation David Harrington and assistant bureau director Wendy Kuehner also suggested the decision by a trio of health care providers to suspend in-home services for their ill, 6-year-old son may have been based on “incomplete or limited” environmental data.
“It is essential that the medical professionals you rely upon be given the most accurate, factual, and complete scientific information,” the DEC officials wrote. “DEC and our partners at (the state department of health) stand ready to ensure the medical professionals you rely upon have all the facts about the results of the DEC’s investigation.”
The McKiernans have been pushing for the state to support their relocation since the discovery last month of industrial waste, including carbon rods, in dirt excavated from their backyard as part of a pool installation project.
The letter from the DEC arrived a day after U.S. Rep. Tim Kennedy, D-Buffalo, visited the McKiernans’ home and told them he supported their efforts to secure approval from the state for relocation while testing and other work on their property continued.
DEC crews were scheduled to visit the house on Thursday to excavate dirt from beneath a porch; however, the couple decided to deny access due to concerns about potentially hazardous dust entering their home during the soil removal process.
“DEC respects your right and current decision to withdraw access for additional work on the property,” the DEC officials wrote in their letter. “However, we also wanted to make sure you know that the DEC and DOH have extensive experience in successfully implementing investigations and contaminant removal actions at hundreds of residential properties throughout New York state without the need of homeowners to vacate their homes.”
The DEC has acknowledged the presence of elevated levels of lead, hexavalent chromium and other heavy metals on the couple’s property and has extended an offer to conduct additional testing to better understand the extent of the contamination and to develop a work plan with its consultants that would involve soil sampling, including testing for the presence of PCBs, lead, other heavy metals and pesticides.
In their letter, the DEC officials asked the McKiernans to sign a property access agreement so the additional work could proceed.
Terry Burton, a retired scientist who formerly worked for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and has been advising the McKiernans, told them earlier this week that he believes the state should support their permanent relocation while work continues to investigate their property as a hazardous waste site.
On Friday, the McKiernans issued a statement in response to the DEC’s letter, describing it as “nothing short of a continued pattern of misleading information” the agency has presented since the industrial materials were found on their property.
“We deserve better and the public deserves better,” the McKiernans said in their statement.