Hochul makes a call

By Tom Puckett

WBEN

Niagara, N.Y. - One Niagara residents potentially affected by radiation in the soil says she received a call from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul over the weekend.

"I don't remember everything she said, because I was so caught off guard," said Kellie Motyka in an interview with WBEN. "I honestly thought it was a recording. I didn't think it was really going to be her. And then she started talking and saying personal things about my situation. So I'm like, 'OK, this really is her.' She just said, 'I'm with you guys. There's reasons I can't come down there, but I'm a mother and I understand your guys' issues. If my kids live there, I would be fighting just as hard as you guys.'"

Motyka had some requests of the governor in her call.

"We want a face-to-face meeting with you," said Motyka. "I said it doesn't have to be in a big old public forum. It could be us live streamed so that other people in the community could ask questions. She said, 'If I was there, I would want to look you guys in the eyes and give you guys all a hug.' And she said other things. It was a six-, seven-minute phone call, but again, I was so caught off guard. But I did tell her, I reiterated over-and-over again, we want this cleaned up by the state Superfund, not federal, because we don't want a piecemeal cleanup. We want a proper cleanup. We live in a beautiful community, and if they ever want people to resettle there, they have to do a proper cleanup. I told her that. I told her we wanted permanent relocation, and that we wanted the face-to-face meeting. So she can do what she wants of that. She did tell me she wouldn't be coming, because she didn't want to make it political, which I don't understand, because she's our political leader. So I don't know how not to make a political leader a political issue."

Motyka says Hochul's position is frustrating to her.

"She always focuses so much on other areas of New York, and we're literally her backyard. She's been in the area several times, and she can't even make an appearance. I just don't get it, and I don't get the whole 'not politicize the issue.' She's a politician. That would be like you saying, 'Oh, I can't talk on air to somebody because I don't want to make it a media issue.' That's your job," Motyka noted.

Motyka is making the decision, at this point, to move out of her duplex.

"My sister and my niece moved out this past weekend. We got them out of there, so they are relocated now," Motyka added. "The place that Mike and my husband and I are taking isn't ready until the beginning of September, so we will be moving then. So it is moving forward in that aspect a little bit slower than I thought it should, because this is something that the Army Corps of Engineers does all the time, as far as I understood. So there were a lot of hurdles to jump over, but things are starting to slowly move."

Ken Lovett, Senior Communications Advisor on Energy and Environment for Governor Kathy Hochul, "The Governor understands the fears and concerns of the residents of Niagara County, which is why she has led by directing DEC and DOH to coordinate with the federal EPA, to act aggressively and proactively to get these families the answers they deserve. As a result, the state and federal agencies have been working to test, survey and analyze hundreds of properties and provided numerous outreach opportunities to keep residents updated and informed. These efforts have also led to the EPA taking the step of offering to voluntarily re-locate several families out of an abundance of caution while testing is ongoing. This Governor remains committed to ensuring that the state is doing everything in its power to expedite this and has reached out to homeowners in the area to reiterate that commitment directly.”