Is This The Next Love Canal?

Residents Fear Old Steel Plant Is Poisoning Their Families

(CBS)  It's been 25 years since the evacuation of Love Canal, the New York neighborhood built on top of toxic waste. But if you think stories like that are a thing of the past, think again, reports The Early Show correspondent Tracy Smith.

Hickory Woods is a neighborhood where Buffalo's past and future collide, a subdivision of family homes built on the site where a steel plant used to stand.

Jennifer and Patrick Blake bought their modest house on a corner lot there nine years ago.

Patrick Blake says, “These were going to be nice new homes. We were just the first phase of it.” Jennifer Blake adds, “We were lucky.”

Shortly after moving in, they began wondering whether they were so lucky after all.

They say they first started to think something was wrong with their home when they started adding a fence.

Jennifer Blake says, “We were digging for the holes and everything was black. It was all black.”

Showing the dirt, Patrick Blake says, “This is just from a shovel full I dug up.”

It wasn't until a few years later, with the birth of their son, that the black dirt in their yard became cause for alarm.

Matthew, now eight, was born with severe developmental disabilities.

His father says, “You can see him today. He can't feed himself. He has no speech ability at all. And he's basically crippled for the rest of his life.”

Jennifer Blake was an avid gardener, and worked in the soil around the house while she was pregnant. And though there is no medical proof, the Blakes believe the dirt and Matthew's disabilities are connected.

The steel plant, which sat directly across from the Blakes home, was demolished in 1985. But it left a chemical legacy. In the spring of 2000, the EPA and the New York Department of Health tested the ground under the neighborhood, and found high concentrations of toxins, including mercury and lead.

Holding the dirt, Patrick Blake says, “This is the stuff they test and it comes back high in chemicals.”

But they also found there's "no immediate health risk" to those living in Hickory Woods. Still, residents have been warned not to dig, or plant vegetables, in their yards. And Jennifer Blake isn't taking any chances with her son.

She says, “We have a trampoline and a pool for him. And he's in the house.”

She won’t even set him on the ground. She says, “Good God, no. That’s how we live. That’s how we live.”

She's not alone. According to a survey done by the Department of Health, 48 out of 57 families have illnesses they think might be related to the soil. And though it's tough to prove a connection, the fear is contagious.

Rick Ammerman, who runs the Hickory Woods Homeowners Association, says, “Every time my kid coughs, every time my kid grows a skin rash, I have to worry that it’s the harbinger of something worse.”

To some, it seems hauntingly familiar. Not far from Hickory Woods is Love Canal, where 25 years ago, residents blamed a rash of health problems on toxic waste. The state declared a health emergency and after relentless protests, city, state and federal governments paid to clean Love Canal up and move residents out.


For the past few years, frightened Hickory Woods homeowners have been pressuring city and state officials to do the same. Buffalo Mayor Anthony Masiello says he's trying to find a compromise.

He says, “The health professionals who deal with this day in and day out say they believe there's no significant health risk. But I believe as the leader of this city, people are scared. People have anxiety. I want to help them.”

The city got $15 million from the steel company to clean up the old plant site. Residents who want to stay in Hickory Woods were offered $7,500 for home improvements. Eighteen have taken that deal, including the Blake's next-door neighbor.

Carol Grandy says, “I thought it was fair. If I didn’t think that they were doing what they should be doing, I'd bail out.”

There's also an offer for those looking for a way out. Mayor Masiello says, “For those who wanted to leave, we would pay up to $15,000 of their appraisal so we can minimize any, if at all, loss in equity.”

That is contingent on the selling of the house.

The question is who's going to buy a house in Hickory Woods?

Ammerman says, “The only reason there's not a sign out on my front yard is that I don't want to have to mow around it. People who have signs out here get no offers!”

A handful of homeowners have left anyway, choosing to default on their mortgages. The Blakes and 70 neighbors are suing the city to get more compensation, but in the meantime, the Blake family is staying put.

Asked if she has ever thought of just running away with her family, Jennifer Blake says, “You don't think we're saving to get out of here? But we can't just walk away. If I could have walked away, I would have. I wouldn't be here talking to you now. This isn't what my life aspirations were.”

The mayor hopes to redevelop the old steel plant lot for commercial use, and says he believes that in the future, Hickory Woods will be a desirable place to live.