Calls for action are intensifying in Niagara County after more than 120 homeowners were notified that elevated levels of radioactive contamination may exist on their properties, leaving residents demanding greater transparency, expanded testing and a faster cleanup effort from state and federal officials.
Residents living near John Nielsen Park in the Town of Niagara gathered alongside environmental advocates this week to press the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and elected officials for answers after receiving letters informing them their properties may contain thorium contamination above acceptable levels.
Many of those attending said they never imagined the neighborhoods where they raised their families could be sitting atop radioactive waste tied to the region’s industrial past…