The documented story

What happened here?

EPA's Holy Trinity Cemetery vicinity work concerned two residential properties next to the cemetery in Lewiston. Radioactive industrial slag had been used as fill in built surfaces around the homes; the federal removal did not establish that the entire cemetery or surrounding neighborhood was contaminated.

The agency removed material from a garage and driveway at one home and from a driveway and patio at the other. The small, property-specific footprint makes precise naming especially important.

Old industrial fill reached ordinary residential surfaces

Two homes near Holy Trinity required targeted radiological removal

2 homeswith documented residential removal work

2013-2014

State screening led to a federal property assessment

DEC and the state Health Department surveyed the area in 2013, and EPA followed with a detailed assessment. The investigation distinguished surface features and subsurface fill from the broader cemetery vicinity rather than treating the whole area as one uniform condition.

Assessment finding

Subsurface material did not initially create a completed exposure pathway

EPA's assessment reported that the radiological material was below surface cover under the conditions then observed. Later planning focused on removing specific affected materials and restoring the residential features above them.

Completed spring 2021

The remedy entered garages, driveways, and a patio

At one residence, EPA removed material from the garage and driveway. At the second, crews addressed the driveway and patio. The work was completed with clean backfill and property restoration.

EPA: Niagara County radiation removal sites ↗EPA: Holy Trinity Cemetery radiological assessment ↗

Chronology

Timeline

Early 1960s
Industrial slag is believed to have been used as fill at specific Niagara County locations.
1978
Federal aerial surveillance identified low-level radiation anomalies in the region.
2020–2021
EPA excavated radiological material at two homes adjacent to Holy Trinity Cemetery.
Spring 2021
EPA reported completion of removal and restoration at both properties.

Environmental record

Documented impacts

Affected material was documented in a garage and driveway at one residence.
A driveway and patio were the documented removal areas at the second residence.
Available EPA records identify two adjacent homes; they do not support labeling the full cemetery as a disposal site.

Response

Cleanup and controls

EPA removed the affected slag and associated material from the specified built areas.
Excavations were verified and restored with clean material and reconstructed surfaces.
Completion status applies to the two documented properties and removal footprints.

Then and now

The site today

EPA lists the two residential cleanups as complete. WNYAtlas uses “cemetery vicinity” deliberately so the map does not convert a geographic reference into an unsupported claim about the cemetery itself.

Atlas connections

Connected places

These collections explain documented material, facility, waterway, ownership, or cleanup relationships. Inclusion does not imply that every place shares one contaminant source or plume.

Niagara regional radiological record

Federal storage, industrial processing, vicinity-property cleanup, and later residential or public-property investigations form a connected regional research record.

Federal storage siteNiagara Falls Storage Site

The storage site is the principal federal property in a wider network of material handling, containment, and vicinity-property work.

Vicinity propertiesNiagara Falls Storage Site Vicinity Properties

These properties are managed separately where eligible material lies beyond the principal storage-site boundary.

Wartime industrial facilityElectro Metallurgical Company

Electro Metallurgical represents a separate Manhattan Project-era industrial operation within the Niagara record.

Investigated propertyNiagara Falls Boulevard Radiation Site

This location was identified through later radiological investigation rather than treated as part of the NFSS parcel itself.

Public-property responseDonovan Head Start Slag Removal

The Head Start response documents investigation and removal at a public-use property.

Investigated propertyUpper Mountain Road Radiation Site

Upper Mountain Road is one of several separately bounded locations in the regional assessment record.

Vicinity investigationHoly Trinity Cemetery Vicinity

The cemetery vicinity record is linked by regional radiological assessment, not by a claim that every property shares one source.

Regional assessmentNiagara–Erie Residential Radiological Assessment

The assessment provides the umbrella research context for evaluating multiple residential and public locations.

Radiological-map connection

Place this site in the wider material history

The separate radiological investigation map distinguishes producers, processors, storage, the 100 historical survey records, federal remediation, and current assessment coverage.

Linked research mapOpen the radiological investigation →

Holy Trinity Cemetery Vicinity