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(Editor’s note: Same story, different day. Here is Dan Telvock’s reporting on radiation found in Town of Niagara Homes.)
TOWN OF NIAGARA, N.Y. (WIVB) — U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials have agreed to relocate four families whose properties in the Town of Niagara contain elevated levels of radioactive material.
And now, state and federal environmental agencies know that contamination has been found not just outside, but also inside two of those homes.
News 4 Investigates partnered with a local licensed engineer who used a commercial Geiger counter to survey properties on July 16, when we discovered two of the four families had elevated levels in their homes. The Geiger counter detected radiation in the living rooms, kitchens and other sections of the homes. The levels were at a minimum 10 times normal background radiation in the environment. In some instances, the levels were higher.
The following day, EPA had crews at both homes, taking dust samples and other related work to assess the strength of the radiation.
Three families told News 4 Investigates Sunday morning that the EPA was unable to secure temporary housing. Only Lexi Hawk, her husband, and young daughter have a location secured.
“The EPA staff were not prepared,” said Lexi Hawk, one of the property owners with elevated levels. “They couldn’t find anywhere long-term and unfortunately my family ended up with a stay for one night at an Airbnb.”
The relocations come a few months after the DEC sent more than 100 letters to property owners seeking permission to survey their properties for gamma radiation.
In 2024, both the EPA and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation discovered an unknown number of radioactive anomalies in Erie and Niagara counties after a series of aerial radiological surveys.
The DEC has removed the waiver from its property access forms, saying property owners could not take legal action against the government or any contractors involved in cleanups. But the agency has not sent the new forms to all property owners. Both the EPA and DEC continue to scan properties for risk assessments as the access forms come in.
All four families learned this week from the EPA and DEC that portions of their properties contain elevated radiation levels. In some cases, radiation readings exceeded the limits of Geiger counters, measuring more than 100 times normal background levels.
Neither the EPA nor the DEC has determined the source of the radioactive material. In previous radioactive cleanup efforts in Niagara County, the agencies linked contamination to waste from metallurgical companies and the Manhattan Project.
Hawk said the families increased pressure on the EPA on Thursday to relocate them. By Saturday afternoon, the agency had begun sharing some of the results from property scans.
By Saturday night, however, frustration had grown.
Hawk said the EPA told the families they would need to find their own accommodations for about a week, and that the agency would not cover moving expenses. The EPA already has an excavator on Hawk’s property to begin moving contaminated dirt.
She also said the families remain frustrated that officials have not explained the potential health risks associated with the contamination, and in some cases they believed some EPA officials downplayed the survey results on their properties. At least two families received from the EPA a map of dots showing locations on their properties with elevated radiation.
“This adds an extra layer of stress into this traumatic experience,” Hawk said.
Jacquelyn Linkowski said she and her husband had to move to her parents’ home about 40 minutes away, until EPA finds them a place to stay.
As of Sunday morning, Carolyn Johnson and her husband John said they were still in their home while searching for a place to relocate. Kelly and Mike Motyka said they were in the same situation.
“What we’re dealing with here — which I think is very concerning — which is chronic, long-term exposure, because that’s really what increases the risk for cancer and other health concerns, so we’re taking this very seriously, that’s why my team is working this, really quite frankly, every day, night and day on this thing,” NY State Department of Health commissioner James McDonald said.
On Monday, during a community meeting at the Niagara Falls Convention Center, McDonald and other officials said they aren’t sure why radiation is being detected inside two of the homes. He said the contaminated material could be under the houses or the occupants could have tracked in contaminated dirt from outside.
