NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. – The McKiernan family is now staying at an Airbnb after receiving test results that have made them frightened to stay in their Niagara Falls home.
Jocelyn and Daniel McKiernan have released test results from Whitestone and Pace Analytical that they say indicate dangerously high levels of toxic chemicals. They believe this points to a failure in the Love Canal clean-up efforts.
“The Department of Health and DEC signed off on this,” said Jocelyn McKiernan. “Why would they want to make it known that their departments failed tremendously back in the 90s? Why would they want the public to know how horrible of a cover-up this is?”
The family said that their health has suffered from living on the property for years, citing problems ranging from tachycardia to nosebleeds.
They’ve been asking for relocation since first discovering industrial waste in July. Now they’ve moved out but without any assistance from the government
“Our goal for that house is to never allow another soul to live on that land again,” said Jocelyn McKiernan. “It should have never been habitable.”
But the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is pushing back. Andrew Guglielmi is the director of the Division of Environmental Remediation, and said they haven’t been able to access the property to complete the testing necessary to determine if relocation is needed.
“We want to collect the data. I wish we could have gotten on that property, you know, over the summer and gotten the data,” said Guglielmi. “We weren’t provided access by the homeowners.”
Guglielmi says that the DEC is working towards a work plan that is satisfactory for everyone.
“There’s industrial material on their property that should not be there. That is clear. We want to address it,” Guglielmi said. “We need to understand the extent of it, which is why we need to get on the property and do the work that we’ve been trying to do here now for several weeks, months.”
A representative from Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office backed the DEC. In a statement to Spectrum News 1, Ken Lovett, senior communications advisor on energy and environment, said, “Governor Hochul has made it clear in words and actions that her first priority is the health and safety of this family. The family’s own third-party consultant concluded that they should work with DEC to implement a work plan and notably does not specifically recommend relocation. DEC and DOH need to conduct further testing, but have repeatedly been denied access to the property. Once that access is granted and we have the results of the subsequent testing, we can responsibly determine the next steps and all options for potential remediation will be considered.”
In a response to Lovett, Jocelyn McKiernan told Spectrum News 1, “Their proposed work plan was inadequate and frankly an embarrassment and leaves our family in the direct harms way. We have given DEC & DOH every opportunity to move our family and conduct proper and comprehensive testing, they chose not to. The bottom line is that a reputable engineering firm has confirmed contamination inside and outside of our home. Based on those results, and others, a nationally known health physician has joined numerous other experts in calling for our immediate relocation. Governor Hochul is engaging in toxic gaslighting and it needs to stop.”