Ortt calls on DEC to issue 'clean bill of health' to affected property owners & introduces legislation to include radioactive waste in Superfund declarations

Submitted by the Office of New York State Sen. Rob Ortt

New York State Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt introduced legislation, Senate Bill S.10672, which would amend the environmental conservation law in relation to radioactive waste disposal. Currently, the state’s hazardous waste Superfund program does not cover radiological contamination – and a Superfund cannot be declared for radiological contamination remediation. 

This bill requires nuclear and radioactive waste to be considered hazardous waste so that impacted sites can be remediated using funds from the hazardous waste Superfund.

“Making crucial changes to the state’s Superfund law to include the radiological materials discovered in Niagara County will allow the DEC to use all the resources available to them to assist homeowners during this process. It is paramount these amendments are made so that additional resources be made available for my constituents affected by radiological contamination,” Ortt said. 

Ortt also sent a letter to New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Amanda Lefton, calling on her to direct the DEC to issue a written “clean bill of health” confirmation to property owners whenever the DEC tests their property for radioactive contamination and determines that radioactive levels are within acceptable standards and do not pose a threat to public health.

“Recent reports declaring that hundreds of properties have potentially dangerous levels of radioactive contamination has some Western New Yorkers scared – and affected homeowners want to have documentation from agency officials confirming that their properties are indeed safe. Establishing a system where homeowners can have physical documentation to point to showing that their property is safe would go a long way to providing peace of mind after a difficult and unsettling situation like this,” Ortt said. 

A copy of the letter to the DEC is attached. 

Ortt is working to find an Assembly cosponsor for the bill.