Governor Kathy Hochul said Thursday she has seen other elected officials politicize visits to toxic sites, and she won’t do that in the Town of Niagara, where hundreds of properties have been found to have radioactivity. It’s for that reason, she says, she will not be appearing there at this time.
“I am putting the people on the ground, the experts. My Commissioner of Health has been there. My head of the Department of Environmental Conservation has been there. Our emergency management people have been there," Hochul said. "I go there? It's a political show, and I'm not going to use politics to capitalize on people's misery. I'm not the kind of politician ever to do that. Others have.”
Hochul added she understands the fears and concerns of affected homeowners. By her estimation, about 800 homes have been surveyed so far, though about 1,200 have been said to have radioactivity.
"I have a team of over 160 people on the ground," she said. "I treated this with my incident response team. What is that? When there's a major snowstorm or a flood, I send in the best. That's what I've done to help this region and help them understand. We're going to test. We're going to get you the answers."
Hochul said, meanwhile, the federal EPA has the lead responsibility for continued work in the Love Canal area, but state officials are working with them to ease the concerns of residents.