A group of Niagara County homeowners who have asked Gov. Kathy Hochul to speak with them about radioactive materials found on their properties now plan to share results from private testing during a press conference Friday in the Town of Niagara.
The homeowners — Carolyn and John Johnson of Fox Avenue and Alexis Hawk and Trevor Bradley of Chester Avenue — are concerned about what they describe as “extremely high levels of radioactivity” found in their yards.
As was first reported by the Buffalo News on Wednesday, the group of homeowners asked Hochul’s office, in a letter dated July 7, to declare their neighborhood a New York State Superfund Site. They are also asking the state to help them relocate amid an ongoing regional radiological investigation being overseen by the New York State Department of Transportation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
“We are very concerned about our health and safety,” the homeowners wrote in their letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Niagara Gazette on Thursday. “We have both had private testing of our home with fairly sophisticated equipment. It revealed extremely high levels of radioactivity. The alarms on the equipment were repeatedly triggered. There were readings above 900 counts per second. The highest readings were in our gardens and recreational areas. We had to wash our shoes after walking around or properties because they registered on the equipment.”
“This situation is an emergency. We need assistance today,” the homeowners added.
As the Niagara Gazette reported on July 3, the DEC and EPA sent Johnson a letter in May, notifying her of their interest in accessing her property to conduct radiological testing. She was among a group of 120 private property owners to receive such notices as part of the Niagara and Erie County Radiological Assessment, a years-long examination of potential areas of concern in both counties.
Properties in need of on-site testing were identified during aerial surveys in 2023 and truck-based surveys that started last year.
In their notice, the DEC and EPA asked homeowners to provide regulators with permission to enter their properties to perform “initial radiological investigation.” The notice indicates the work could include the “use of hand-held detection equipment, sample collection and photographic documentation.”
Johnson questioned the terms being offered, including a requirement that testing could only move forward if affected property owners agreed to waive “any and all claims” they may have “now or in the future to seek or receive reimbursement” from the DEC, the EPA or the state of New York.
In their letter to Hochul, the group of homeowners living in the neighborhood near Reservoir State Park said they are not comfortable with the waiver, while arguing the state must immediately provide follow-up testing of their properties whether they sign it or not.
“Testing for health and safety should not turn on us waiving our rights,” the homeowners wrote. “We are deeply mistrustful of how New York has handled this issue so far; the waiver is only exacerbating our unease.”
Several local, state and federal elected officials and representatives from environmental and community groups, including the Sierra Club and the NAACP Niagara Falls branch, are scheduled to join the homeowners during Friday’s press conference.