NEW ORLEANS — Four truckloads of soil contaminated by radiation were removed from Lowerline Street in Gert Town on Wednesday and are on their way to Texas.
And while the soil was gone, residents’ concerns remained. Chief among them: If their health was affected and why, they claim, the city tried to hide what was happening.
Leo Soniat, whose house is in front of the spot where the soil was removed, said the city at first only said it was making a street repair when crews arrived in May. There was no mention of radioactive material, he said.
“Why are they hiding it? Why didn't they tell us about it? Why did they just put up signs saying road construction?” he asked. “Nothing about chemicals. Nothing. They basically told us nothing.”
A number of residents have now sued the city. Emails among city officials they obtained as part of a public-records request indicate that City Hall considered alerting the public to the work but eventually decided against that, instead preparing a statement in case any media asked questions about the work.
The state Department of Environmental Quality has said the amount of radiation in the soil was not enough to be of concern.
“That’s B.S.,” said Eric Lassair, another neighbor.
The radiation was first found in 2013 ahead of Super Bowl XLVII, as authorities prepared the city for the game. Nothing was done about it.
Mayor LaToya Cantrell, who inherited the issue when she was sworn in last year, disputed that residents were not properly notified about the work and why it was being done. She added that her administration began work on it as soon as possible.
Crews first began to work on the problem in October 2018, five months after Cantrell took office, and samples were taken two months later.
“This administration has been focused on this, working with the federal government to ensure that the residents are protected, and we did not skip a beat” Cantrell said. “Every single day (we were) focused on this. And that’s what the documentation shows.”