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Hickory Woods Neighborhood, Buffalo, NY

Toxic Waste Threatens a Housing Subdivision Built in a Brownfield

In the late 1980s, the City of Buffalo, New York, purchased and began to redevelop part of an old LTV Steel site in south Buffalo. Using federal and state funds, the City created a development of approximately 60 homes on the property, which is adjacent to a state Superfund site hidden from view by a City-built berm. Redeveloping the area helped people become homeowners and generated new tax revenues for the city. But with the belated discovery of soil contaminated with carcinogenic polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons and other wastes, some residents of the Hickory Woods neighborhood were temporarily relocated, and many others concerned about possible health risks want to be relocated at least until the site is fully evaluated and cleaned up.

The City never told prospective homebuyers about the neighborhood's environmental contamination. The City itself may not have known about the contamination because it never thoroughly assessed environmental risks when it redeveloped the property. Although construction of some homes began in 1988, no environmental assessment of the site ever took place until 1993 -- and that was a limited investigation of only some properties. In 1995, the City contracted with a consulting firm for another "Limited Environmental Investigation."

These partial investigations were clearly inadequate because in 1998, when developers were building a basement for a new home, they discovered cindery black coke wastes, refractory bricks and an oozing black substance in the soil. Development ceased, and in the course of sampling, the City found extremely high levels of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (some over 100,000 parts per million), carcinogens associated with steel manufacturing. Sampling on three adjacent, occupied properties also showed levels of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons that exceeded action levels for EPA emergency response.

Subsequently the City conducted some additional sampling in the neighborhood while also excavating soil on the four most contaminated lots -- all without any approval of state environmental agencies or input from residents. The cleanup effort also uncovered a benzene-contaminated leaking underground storage tank, and the City has speculated that there may be more tanks in the neighborhood. Excavated material from the cleanup now sits across the street, uncovered. In addition to their other potential exposures, residents are concerned that this contaminated soil, blown by winds throughout the neighborhood, is creating other health risks.

Based on the still-scanty sampling conducted so far, the state Department of Health warned residents not to dig below four-to-six inches in their years unless remediation occurs. This warning comes too late for most residents, who have planted trees and gardens or built decks or fences. The Department has said that several neighborhood lots "have posed and continue to pose a health risk for children and adults living next to the properties."

In December 1999, in response to requests from the Hickory Woods Concerned Homeowners Association, the Buffalo Common Council passed a resolution calling for relocation of citizens who would like to leave, comprehensive remediation of the site, financial assistance to residents who have suffered economic losses, and comprehensive testing to address residents' health concerns. The City has filed notice to sue LTV to recover $800,000 in cleanup funds it spent. The City has also requested the state Department of Health to conduct a health study. U.S. EPA is planning to sample for contamination in the area this spring.

The residents' concerns about health risks and plummeting property values at Hickory Woods remain unresolved. Many residents report various forms of cancer, respiratory ailments and birth defects, which they attribute to the neighborhood's contamination and its proximity to the state Superfund site. But some of the lessons from Hickory Woods are clear. The City should not have redeveloped a heavy industrial site into a residential neighborhood without first conducting a thorough environmental assessment of the site. The City should have fully informed and involved the residents in decisions about their neighborhood, and state agencies should have exercised more vigorous oversight of this redevelopment to ensure protection of public health. 

The Hickory Woods Concerned Homeowners Association was formed in late 1999 in response to the growing concerns of the residents about the hazardous waste materials found in the neighborhood.  The goal of the Association is to provide the residents of Hickory Woods with a venue for gathering and disseminating information and to work together, as a community, toward the resolution of this issue.  This web page was created to help assist in the sharing of information, concerns, and knowledge regarding this matter.  The information contained in the chronology, picture, and events pages was formulated and submitted by residents of the neighborhood.  "Together we can make a difference"