It might be time for Lewiston Road residents affected by delays, uncertainty, and potential radiation danger, to put in a call to environmental activist Lois Gibbs, or at least band together and take their case to City Hall and beyond to try and get some action.

We recently received an email from William Hanner, a Lewiston Road resident who writes that since they tore up the road in front of his house and left, he has become sick and now notices that his wife and his daughter are also having some health problems.

A former welder, Hanner says he is sensitive to electromagnetic fields and he started having problems while Verizon was working in a trench in front of his house and then just left.

“They were in there pretty deep,” Hanner said during a telephone interview, “and I didn’t make the connection at first.” Hanner then did some testing and says he found very high levels of electromagnetic fields. In fact, he said the readings are every bit as high as if he were under the high tension towers at the Power Authority.

Hanner said he has gone everywhere for help, but so far no agency or government official has responded. We asked him about his neighbors and whether they have come together to talk about their concerns related to the now long-stalled reconstruction project and concerns about radioactive slag and other possible toxic threats now that the ground has been opened.

“No, we haven’t gotten together,” he said. “I guess we all feel a little overwhelmed by what has happened and nobody will help.”
Now we here at the Niagara Reporter are not suggesting Lewiston Road is another Love Canal . But 34 years ago, a young woman named Lois Gibbs discovered that her 7-year-old son’s elementary school was built on a toxic waste dump and alerted the community known as Love Canal to the danger.

Lewiston Road is mired in controversy over the levels and amount of radioactive contamination of slag uncovered by contractor David Pfeiffer who has stopped his work on the project and left the city pursuing possible litigation to finish the work. But in the meantime, the four-year-old project is at a standstill with no end in sight, even with the mayor’s plan to go out to bid later this month. The road remains torn up, an eyesore and a hazard not to mention a killer on property values.

Residents have not gotten together, as far as we know, to pressure public officials about their concerns and the need to get the work finished as quickly as possible. And also to do whatever testing is necessary to once and for all assure them they are not facing any kind of health threat.

Lois Gibbs is the founder of Health, Environment and Justice and maybe Lewiston Road residents should call on this national environmental crusader to ask for advice since it seems no one else is listening.

This seems to be a case where residents have been victimized and seem resigned to accepting their fate instead of rallying against the forces that might be able to provide some answers if they faced enough angry citizens.

Lewiston Road residents need to come together to make their voices heard or it may be months, or even years, before they get any relief. And there’s no certainty that their health is not being affected.