Toxic waste from Love Canal was removed from a landfill in Wheatfield in 2014 and 2015. But the New York Department of Environmental Conservation recently determined that the Nash Road site poses a "significant threat to public health." State Senator Robert Ortt is calling for an environmental study and a cleanup plan. In the meantime, Ortt says a fence will be installed to separate the landfill from 1,600 nearby homes.
"This is basically an extension of a lot of peoples backyards and not knowing the full extent of the contamination is cause for concern. We need to secure that area and this fence will do that and $75,000 in state capital funds will go towards that," Ortt told WBFO Monday.
The property, on Nash Road at the North Tonawanda/Wheatfield border, has been added to the federal government's Superfund list of contaminated sites.
Ortt says the fence will go up in the coming months and cleanup could begin as early as 2017.
