NEW ORLEANS — For weeks, several large dumpsters of radioactive material marked off by a fence and caution tape sat on Lowerline Street.
Today, crews finally came to remove those dumpsters.
Eyewitness News first broke this story in early June. Gert Town residents were concerned that the radioactive materials being dug up in front of their homes were linked to existing health problems those neighbors are currently suffering from.
Initially, the city said they consulted scientists who told them the material was not harmful. We later learned that the hazardous material was Radium 226.
According to the Center for Disease Control, long-term exposure to Radium 226 can cause a number of health problems such as cancer, amenia, fractured bones and cataracts.
Since that information has come out, around 1,000 neighbors living in the area have filed a federal lawsuit against the city. The lawsuit claims the city knew about the radiation problem for years and should have relocated nearby neighbors while they worked to remove the material.
Instead, residents tell me they let neighbors sit out and watch, unprotected, while crews dressed in hazmat suits removed the radioactive.
"If you see the stuff they bringing out of that ground, it just didn’t seem real,” Clyde Williams, who lives in the neighborhood, said. “It looked like black slushie stuff. And the thing to me – what I felt so bad about – they allowed us to walk to the fence where they were digging, but the people that were digging it up had on hazmat suits like spacemen. So why didn’t you run us away from this fence? Tell us it may be hazardous to our health?”
Residents say that since crews began the removal, the area has flooded. They’re worried about radiation traveling to other parts of the neighborhood through the water.
On Friday evening, the City of New Orleans released the following statement:
“This administration has been clear. Our goal is always to protect the health and safety of residents. This community has historically experienced environmental challenges, and it was imperative for us to address this immediately. Upon learning of the presence of the underground materials in 2018, this administration took immediate action by notifying residents prior to safely removing the material in close coordination with the appropriate federal and state partners. Due to the scope of the work necessary to protect health and safety, EPA assumed oversight of project operations. The City has been in constant communication with federal and state partners to push for safe and expedient removal and these agencies have been continually monitoring and have not reported any increased risk to the public during removal. The EPA has informed us the remaining containers will be removed next week."
City officials said questions and concerns about the removal should go to EPA Region 6 External Affairs at (214) 665-2200 or r6press@epa.gov.