The long-waiting redevelopment of the Ithaca Gun site has taken a step forward, albeit a small one, despite the persistence of questions about the site's current and future health.
Test results from soil samples collected by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) in August 2017, but not publicly disclosed until last week, confirm what investigators found in February 2018 – lead levels on the Ithaca Falls Gorge Trail exceed the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) removal management level at 400 parts per million (PPM).
“Neither DEC nor EPA alerted the public to this documented public health threat. That is why I did,” said environmental advocate Walter Hang.
Several years ago on Mother’s Day, Esther Herkowitz, tried to plant rose bushes in memory of her mother and grandmother. Instead of soil, she hit cement, metal bits and rebar.
“That was when I found out that I bought a mobile home on an unkempt toxic dump,” she said.
