Radioactive Contamination Discovered in Western NY

Governor Kathy Hochul today addressed the discovery of radioactive contamination across two Western New York counties. To ensure that those affected receive necessary information and continued transparency, the Governor has urged the Environmental Protection Agency to step up testing and accelerate distribution of resources.

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Before I begin, I want to say a few words about the Niagara and Erie County Radiological Survey. I understand the news that finding any radioactive material in there can be extremely unsettling for the families who live there, and living with this uncertainty is nothing any family should have to endure. As someone who grew up in Western New York, I know the impacts of our industrial past. I vividly remember the specter of Love Canal and what that did to the just loss of stability and, and security that communities deserve to have. So I know that, and I also know what happens when government fails to act quickly enough, which is leaving families wondering whether the home that they have for their family and their pets is even safe for them to live in anymore.

And I remember that fear and that uncertainty and the lasting impact that it had on the entire community. I definitely, for sure, as Governor — having come from that experience as a child — I don't want that to happen here in my beloved community. I don't want history to repeat itself. And I also didn't want to wait another 30 years to discover that when something was found wrong, that we could have done something when the evidence first started surfacing. That's why I'm working closely with the EPA, and we are proactively beginning survey — we began surveying and testing. And our — my priority is very clear: do the testing, get people the answers as soon as possible, as soon as we know them, as soon as the analysis has been done. And families deserve that information, they deserve that transparency and they deserve to have confidence that their Governor is on their side — their Governor and their government.

So later today, at my direction, the State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Department of Health and the EPA will hold a community meeting — five o'clock at the Niagara Falls Convention Center. They want to do a technical briefing to explain what they've learned, what the next steps are, but also to hear from those who are impacted and answer questions as best we can with the information we have thus far. At my urging, the EPA, supported by our DEC, stepped up the testing. I sent a letter to that effect a short time ago saying, "I understand the need to have 21 days to properly test the materials, but can we do more at scale? Can we do more at the same time to get the answers back sooner?" And I want to give my appreciation to the EPA for working with us on this.

And we have stepped up testing and accelerated the delivery of resources in these potentially impacted communities. So since Friday, they've gone into every home where property owners signed a needed access agreement to allow for testing. And as a result, the EPA has offered to relocate four families thus far out of an abundance of caution. And I strongly encourage anyone who's received one of these letters to sign the access agreement so state and federal officials can have access to the property, which otherwise we do not have, cannot legally go on the property without this letter being signed so they can conduct the testing they need.

So let me be very clear: we will not stop testing until families have all their questions answered. We're going to keep working hard. We're going to make sure we take all necessary actions because no New Yorker should have to spend a single moment of their time worrying about whether their home and their family is safe. And that is something I — again, I encourage people to participate tonight, listen, learn more and know that we are being very, very thoughtful in our constant outreach with these communities, with the families particularly, because I do not want them to suffer one second longer. So that is what I wanted to say on our steps this week.