SOUTHPORT, N.Y. (WETM) — A Southport woman raised concerns about metal contamination around her area on Monday.
At a news conference on Monday, June 30, Joann Siedman a Southport resident, and Walter Hang President of the Environmental Health Research Group, shared images Siedman received from an environmental consulting firm called Geosyntec, about toxic studies done around her property.
The images above reported that toxic metals were tested around Siedman’s backyard, with Chromium identified as the highest contaminant at a concentration of 750 parts per million. Additionally, another studied reported that three Southport properties near Siedman also have toxins. According to Hang, they don’t know when the pollution started.
“My family’s health and my property, is unlivable, and my family’s health is like my main concern,” Siedman said.
Hang said, “This very likely, involved the discharge from what was once a huge industrial facility, and then Elmira High was built on top of that polluted property.”
A document that reported where the pollution of Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB’s) started, provided by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), was featured at the news conference as the image featured above. It claimed that the pollution started from a culvert site, then went to a wetland area and drained into Coldbrook Creek.
Below is a copy of the document from the NYSDEC’s website.
In addition, Siedman was alerted by Geosyntec on June, 24, 2016, showcased as pictures above at the news conference, about contamination in her backyard on the ground in the soil. She was told to take precautions to avoid any exposure from the PCB’s. Hang said he wrote to New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Friday, June 27, to request a meeting.