Governor Kathy Hochul’s office issued a statement and rush transcript after state testing identified radioactive contamination across Niagara and Erie counties.
Hochul said she has urged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to step up testing and accelerate delivery of resources to affected communities. The Governor said state agencies — including the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and Department of Health (DOH) — are working with the EPA to survey and test properties.
According to the Governor’s remarks, state and federal teams have entered every home where owners signed access agreements to permit testing. The EPA has offered to relocate four families so far “out of an abundance of caution,” Hochul said. She urged residents who receive access-agreement letters to sign them so officials can legally conduct testing.
Community briefing scheduled
The rush transcript states that, at the Governor’s direction, the DEC, DOH and EPA planned a community meeting and technical briefing at 5:00 p.m. at the Niagara Falls Convention Center to explain findings, next steps and to hear from impacted residents.
Hochul invoked the region’s industrial past and the community trauma of Love Canal, saying she does not want a repeat and that transparency and timely answers are the state’s priorities: “do the testing, get people the answers as soon as possible.”
The Governor’s office said video and audio of the remarks are available through the office’s posted materials; a rush transcript was included in the release.
What the release does not say
The statement and transcript do not include technical details about the contamination (such as the radioactive isotope(s) identified), a map of affected neighborhoods, total number of homes tested, overall test results, or any public-health guidance beyond relocation offers and encouragement to allow access for testing. The release also does not include direct links to the referenced video and audio files in the message supplied to this newsroom.
Reporting follow-up should seek technical briefings and testing data from the EPA, DEC and DOH, and confirm the date/time of the community meeting if it is being referenced from a same-day event.
Source: Office of Governor Kathy Hochul (press statement and rush transcript).
