Letter to Scott Pruitt, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency - Clean Up Radioactive Material in Niagara County
Letter
Dear Administrator Pruitt:
I write in regards to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cleanup activities of radioactive hotspots in Niagara County. According to media reports, EPA work to remove radioactive material from hotspots in Niagara County has come to a halt, with little explanation to the community why the work was stopped and when it will be able to resume. I urge you to resume and complete cleanup work on these hotspots as expeditiously as possible.
As you know, in 2013, New York State authorities referred three properties that are contaminated with radioactive material to the EPA to investigate. The EPA is in various stages of investigation and cleanup between the three properties, which include a site on Niagara Falls Boulevard, a site at the Holy Trinity Cemetery, and a site on Upper Mountain Road. It is my understanding that while the source of contamination is not fully known, the majority of the radioactive material has been found in the form of gravel believed to have been sourced from radioactive byproducts sourced from prior industrial uses. According to media reports, the EPA recently halted cleanup activities at the sites without a full explanation to local residents of why work had to be stopped, and when, or if, EPA would return and resume cleanup activities.
I urge the EPA to return to these sites and to resume investigative and cleanup activities at the hotspots in Niagara County. I am particularly concerned about the news that the EPA has halted cleanup work on these sites, with no definitive and public plan to return, in light of the Administration's budget proposal, which proposed deep cuts to the EPA, including more than $330 million in cuts to the Superfund program in Fiscal Year 2018. Residents in Niagara County have waited long enough for this cleanup work in their communities to be completed, and it is crucial that the EPA resume their work in Niagara County and complete these cleanup activities as expeditiously as possible.
Thank you in advance for your attention to this important request. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me or my staff.
Sincerely,
Charles E. Schumer
United States Senator
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