TOWN OF LOCKPORT, N.Y. (WKBW) — The Environmental Protection Agency met with Lockport-area residents to answer questions about the ongoing cleanup of the Eighteen Mile Creek Remedial Project. This contamination site has been under investigation for nearly a decade.
Poster boards inside Lockport Town Hall showcased the remedial project on Mill Street, which spans 18 miles. The EPA is leading the project and addressing lead-contaminated soil at residential properties along the creek.
The site begins at the creek in Lockport, which flows north through communities including Newfane, Olcott and Wilson before discharging into Lake Ontario.
Christopher O'Leary, Eighteen Mile Creek Remedial Project manager, described the excavation process currently underway.
"We are moving the water and allowing us to excavate in the dry. It's easier excavation. It's less messy, and it allows the contractor to load it into the vehicles faster and move the material off site," O'Leary said.
The project is expected to take many years as crews address contamination dating to the industrial period of the mid-1800s.
"The creek is impacted with PCBs, Polychlorinated biphenyls, and the floodplain soils are impacted with lead, and those are the two main chemicals concerned that are driving the cleanup of Eighteen Mile Creek," O'Leary said.
Kelly Gaffney, also a project manager for the Eighteen Mile Creek Remedial Project, said there is no immediate danger to the public.
"There is no imminent risk to any public health. We have provided data for those that we've sampled on their property, and we're in constant communication. We can pass them to people in the Department of Health or the state if they have different types of questions that we cannot necessarily address," Gaffney said.
The area was placed on the National Priorities List in 2021, at which point the EPA took over the investigation. Gaffney said the agency's current focus is on Lockport before moving further down the creek.
"Currently we're really focused on Lockport and we're slowly making our way down the creek, so we're getting different communities involved and just what they should be expecting to see more in their backyards," Gaffney said.
Few residents felt comfortable speaking on camera, as many are still learning about the project. One property owner, Robert Randall, said he was first notified about the project in 2024 and received his soil test results in March of this year, eight months after the initial test was conducted on his property.
"I approved the testing. They tested my soil, and now I've got the areas labeled on my property through a survey map as to what is over 400 parts per million of lead content in the soil," Randall said.
Residents who missed the Lockport meeting have another opportunity to speak with EPA staff at the Newfane Community Center. Sessions are scheduled from 2 to 4 p.m. and again from 6 to 8 p.m.
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