McMurray Urges Governor Hochul to Intervene in Niagara’s Toxic Waste Crisis

Dear Governor Kathy Hochul,

I am writing regarding the recent investigations by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) into toxic waste, hazardous contamination, and radioactive materials in Niagara County. Combined with the longstanding legacy of Love Canal, Cayuga Island, and other areas of potential contamination, I believe this is no longer simply a local issue. It is a regional—and perhaps national or even international—challenge that deserves sustained leadership, transparency, and attention.

Before writing this letter and recording the accompanying video, I made every effort to reach you through other channels. I spoke with individuals connected to your administration, shared my concerns through intermediaries, and hoped the urgency of what families in Niagara County are experiencing would reach your desk. Unfortunately, I came away concerned that the full gravity of the situation was either being softened or simply not reaching you. That is why I decided to write to you directly.

I do not write out of anger, nor do I write to assign blame. In fact, I have often told people that I believe you genuinely care about Western New York. I have had the opportunity to meet you over the years and have seen your commitment to our region firsthand. Because I believe that commitment is genuine, I am asking you to hear this appeal personally.

Over the past several weeks, I have spent time with families who have received notices regarding potential radioactive contamination on or near their properties. I have looked them in the eye. I have listened to their fears. These are not political activists looking for a fight. Most have little interest in politics at all. They are parents, grandparents, veterans, teachers, small business owners, and working families who simply want to know whether their homes are safe, whether their children are safe, and whether someone in government is listening.

Governor, your administration deserves genuine credit for beginning these investigations. It would have been politically easier to leave difficult environmental questions buried beneath decades of history, as so many others have done. Instead, your administration, through the DEC, chose to investigate. That was not the politically convenient decision—it was the responsible one.

Government cannot solve problems it refuses to acknowledge.

Because your administration acted, families are finally beginning to receive answers they have sought for years. Those answers may be painful, but they are far better than silence.

Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for many of our local elected officials. For years, too many leaders in Niagara County chose complacency over curiosity. The public deserved difficult questions; instead, they too often received reassuring silence. Now that these investigations are underway, some Republican officials appear more interested in blaming your administration for asking the questions than confronting the answers those questions may reveal.

They have it exactly backward.

The people of Niagara County do not need another round of partisan finger-pointing. They need leaders willing to acknowledge reality and solve problems. History rarely remembers those who attacked investigations. It remembers those who had the courage to begin them.

You did not create Love Canal.

You did not create decades of chemical manufacturing.

You did not create radioactive waste or industrial disposal practices that predate your administration by generations.

What your administration did was refuse to ignore the possibility that families deserved answers. That took political courage, and I believe history will remember it as the right decision.

I am equally concerned by what is happening at the federal level. At a moment when communities like Niagara County need stronger environmental oversight, greater transparency, and additional scientific resources, the Trump administration has instead pursued policies that weaken environmental enforcement and reduce the federal government’s role in protecting public health. That is deeply troubling.

This should never become a Democratic issue or a Republican issue. Toxic contamination does not care how someone votes. Radioactive waste does not recognize party affiliation. Every family deserves clean water, safe neighborhoods, and honest answers. I hope the federal government chooses cooperation over confrontation and works alongside New York State rather than retreating from its responsibility to communities like ours.

Governor, this is one of the most significant environmental investigations Western New York has undertaken in generations. It will require cooperation among federal, state, and local governments; scientists, physicians, engineers; and the affected communities themselves. Every successful effort begins with leadership.

Quite simply, we need a quarterback.

When I served as Town Supervisor of Grand Island, I saw firsthand what your leadership could accomplish. You helped make possible projects that meant a great deal to our community, including the Holiday Inn Express redevelopment of the former Hooker building and the Grand Island Welcome Center. Those projects demonstrated something important:

When you become personally engaged, things happen.

That is why I am asking you to become personally engaged again.

Trust me, I understand the political risks of publicly writing a letter like this to the leader of my own party. If my goal were political expediency or personal advancement, silence would have been the easier path. Public office should never become a vehicle for protecting careers, currying favor with party leadership, or avoiding uncomfortable conversations. Too often in modern politics, leaders become so focused on preserving their position that they forget why they sought public office in the first place.

I have always believed politics should be something better. Public office should be a platform to elevate issues of profound public concern, to speak for those who struggle to be heard, and to bring people together to solve problems that no individual can solve alone. If this letter is political, then I hope it is political in the very best sense of the word. Politics, at its best, remains one of the most powerful tools we possess to improve people’s lives.

Governor, I respectfully ask you to come to Niagara County. Meet with the affected families. Listen to their stories. Hear directly from the scientists, physicians, engineers, local officials, and community leaders working to understand the full scope of these challenges.

For all I know, you may already be planning to come, and I sincerely hope that is the case. I hope you have the opportunity to do so before others define your administration’s efforts through partisan politics rather than the courage it took to begin these investigations. Recent statements from some public officials and press releases have left many families feeling anxious and uncertain. I felt obligated to write in the hope that this letter reaches you and conveys both their concerns and their hope.

I am not asking you to arrive with every answer already in hand. We all understand how difficult this challenge is, and no single person or agency can solve it alone. But your presence would matter. It would bring a sense of calm and confidence to families who have spent far too long living with uncertainty. It would demonstrate that the State of New York is standing with them as the answers continue to unfold.

Someone who can bring together federal, state, and local officials, scientists, physicians, engineers, and the affected communities to ensure everyone is moving in the same direction.

Western New York helped build this nation. If that legacy also left environmental consequences that families continue to bear today, then those families deserve transparency, answers, and leadership.

Thus, I am, simply and with considerable respect, asking you to come, to listen, and to continue the work your administration had the courage to begin.

Thank you for your service to the people of New York and for considering this request. I remain hopeful that, working together, we can ensure these families receive the leadership and attention they deserve.

Respectfully,

Nathan D. McMurray

Former Grand Island Town Supervisor

Candidate for New York State Assembly, District 145

And, I hope, a grateful ally—proud to have a fellow Western New Yorker serving in the Governor’s Office.