It’s what’s invisible to the eye that has cast a long dark shadow over the region
and the people who live here
There are nearly 800 waste sites in Western New York*
Niagara Falls, by Ferdinand Richardt, Oil on Canvas, 1856
A State Park and a National Heritage Area
In July of 1885 then Governor David Hill dedicated the land flanking the falls to be Niagara Falls State Park. It is the oldest state park in our nation. The park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and was created to protect the natural beauty of the falls from the continued industrialization of the riverfront. With this Niagara Falls became a symbol for public parks across the country.
In 2008 congress designated Niagara Falls, Lewiston and Youngstown a National Heritage Area. It has the unique characteristics of historic, cultural, and natural resources combining to form cohesive, nationally important landscapes. Unlike national parks, National Heritage Areas are large lived-in landscapes.
A Symbol for the Nation
During President Obama’s 2013 inaugural luncheon themed “Faith in America’s Future” this painting “Niagara Falls” by Ferdinand Richardt hung above the head table. It hung as a grand gesture holding Niagara Falls up as an icon representing the magnificence of our country. When I first watched this event on tv I was actually a bit teary, feeling proud of my home town. Although as I thought about what it meant to use this image in that context I realized that this was not the reality of the Niagara I grew up in, but rather a fantasy of what we wish it still was.
The Niagara in that painting is long gone. If you were to look just outside of its gilded frame today you would see a city that has been in extreme decline for decades. If you drive around the city it is impossible to miss the abandoned factories and overgrown empty lots. Street after street of homes completely falling apart are a clear reflection of the magnitude of poverty. And with a population that has fallen to about 48,000, it should technically no longer qualify as a city.
Caption
Behind the Beauty
In 1885 Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse built the first hydro-electric power plant in Niagara Falls. With that invention, they ushered in a new era of industrial productivity and simultaneously kick-started the degradation of the Niagara region. For more than 120 years, the industry of Niagara Falls has polluted and poisoned the air, water and soil and the people who live there.
The manufacturing of abrasives, plastics and chemicals created toxic byproducts that were dumped in waterways, marked and unmarked landfills, concrete silos, and even over Niagara Falls. It produced nearly 800 known waste sites in Western New York. On average, there's one waste site for every 1500 people and one roughly every three and a half square miles. Think about that - every 3 and a half miles that you drive on a daily basis is, on average, passing a new waste site. And 38 superfund sites sit within a half-mile of a public school. Tragically, more than half the world's radium is buried within a mile of the Lewiston-Porter schools.
And, it’s not over.
The highest elevation in Niagara County is Cecos International Landfill. It continues to grow every day. The only active hazardous waste landfill in the Northeast is Chemical Waste Management in Niagara County, where Tom Brokaw's desk was dumped in 2001 after he opened a letter tainted with anthrax. Love Canal, which destroyed Niagara in the ‘70s, continues to poison the community while new lawsuits continue from people who are sick.
Radioactive waste from the Manhattan Project is still with us. In 2018, the Buffalo News reported 100 cubic yards of radioactive dirt in Niagara Falls State Park. There were no signs notifying the public as 12.9 million visitors and local residents walked past piles of radioactive dirt merely covered by sheets of plastic.
This reckless, continued dumping affects generation after generation. Until we take stewardship of our land, waterways and air, our communities will continue to suffer in this toxic soup.
What Can We Do?
Learn about Your Environment: We can all become more educated about what we are living near and how this may affect our health.
Mapping Waste - Setting the Stage to Clean-Up Niagara http://regional-institute.buffalo.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/06/Full-Report_Dec_2012_with-Maps_FinalReduced.pdf
A superfund site is a site potentially harmful to life. Not all waste sites are superfund sites. You can find out if there are any Superfund sites near where you live: https://www.epa.gov/superfund/search-superfund-sites-where-you-live
Air and Soil Testing: If you want to test the air or soil in your home or neighborhood connect with Citizen Science Community Resources. They can provide you with the knowledge and a kit for how to do this. People often test the soil in their yard if they want to plant a vegetable garden.
Choose Non-toxic Products: Take more care in choosing the products that you consume. Learn more about your cleaning products, beauty products and children’s toys for example and what chemicals they are made from. You can make safer choices by doing a little research. Check out https://www.greenamerica.org/ for green living advice.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycling: We sometimes forget these three words were placed in order of importance. People often think recycling is the answer, but it actually takes a lot of energy to recycle and contributes to climate change. Think more about the lifespan of the things you consume and what will happen to them when you are done with them. Try not to use single use items whenever possible. Everything ends up in a landfill eventually. Landfills release methane, which is also a huge contributor to climate change. For more info on Reducing and Reusing Basics and Benefits visit:
https://www.epa.gov/recycle/reducing-and-reusing-basics
Let’s all try and do our best by protecting our planet and the health of future generations!
Thank you to Jennifer Kite-Powell for editing this blog.