Document library
The primary file, in full
Ten agency documents, linked straight to the New York State and federal servers that host them. Nothing here is a summary standing in for a source. Every link on this page was checked on 11 September 2026 and resolved.
Cayuga Island — DEC site 932008
The island’s own file is remarkably thin. It holds two documents, both from 2026, and both are fact sheets rather than investigation reports. The assessments DEC conducted in 1992 and 1993 are referenced inside the September fact sheet but are not themselves posted in this folder.19
West Cayuga Island — Site Investigation Update
NYSDEC · PDF 0.44 MBThe most recent official statement on the site, and the source for most of this website. Confirms impacts to indoor air and soil at participating properties, announces a second phase of investigation along West Rivershore Drive, states all work is at no cost to the homeowner, and gives the agency contacts. Includes 1927 and present-day aerial photographs of the western tip.
Investigation
NYSDEC · PDF 1.07 MBThe first public document in the file, issued as DEC began contacting property owners. Sets out the three-part sampling plan. This file is a scanned document, so its text is not machine-readable and cannot be searched or quoted from directly.
DEC’s folder for a site is the raw directory, not a curated page. You can browse the island’s folder yourself at extapps.dec.ny.gov/data/DecDocs/932008/ and Griffon Park’s at /932081/. New documents appear there before any announcement, which is how the September 2026 update was found.
Griffon Park — DEC site 932081
The mainland park across the Little River, at roughly 9347 to 9551 Buffalo Avenue. It is a separate site with a separate file, and that file is four times the size of the island’s and thirty-eight years older. It is included here because it is the nearest documented record of what mid-century fill in this neighbourhood contains — not because its findings transfer to the island.8
Griffon Park Sampling Summary Memo
NYSDEC · PDF 9.30 MBAccompanies the July 2026 analytical work. Contains the laboratory data package from Pace Analytical Services, East Longmeadow, Massachusetts — 281 pages covering samples received 17 June 2026, submitted by LaBella Associates of Rochester on DEC’s behalf under project 2602189.
Griffon Park July 2026 Analytical Report
NYSDEC · PDF 2.54 MBSoil, sediment and groundwater results. The analytical suite covers volatile and semivolatile organics, 1,4-dioxane, organochlorine pesticides, PCBs, total metals, anions and general chemistry. DEC labels this report unvalidated, so no figure from it is summarised anywhere on this site.
Field Activities Report — Inactive Landfill Initiative
NYSDEC · PDF 5.73 MBThe single most useful document in either file. Records field work from 23 February to 23 March 2022: five new monitoring wells installed, developed and sampled, and fill material logged in five borings between 5 and 17 feet below ground surface — clear and brown glass, metal, cloth, brick fragments, cinder and wood.
Inactive Landfill Initiative — Griffon Park Summary Report
NYSDEC · PDF 5.73 MBThe summary accompanying the 2022 field programme. This file is scanned rather than digitally generated, so its text is not machine-readable.
Hydrogeological Investigation Work Plan
NYSDEC · PDF 2.04 MBThe plan that set up the 2022 monitoring well programme — where to drill, what to sample, and what questions the groundwater work was meant to answer.
Preliminary Site Assessment — Volume 1
NYSDEC · PDF 0.83 MBContemporaneous with the 1992–93 assessments DEC conducted on the island itself. Volume 1 of two.
Preliminary Site Assessment — Volume 2
NYSDEC · PDF 10.12 MBAppendices and data for the 1993 assessment.
Phase I Investigation — Griffon Park
NYSDEC · PDF 11.99 MBThe oldest document in either file, and the start of the regulatory record for this stretch of shoreline.
Databases and agency references
These are the live records rather than fixed documents. A site’s classification can change, so each is worth rechecking rather than trusting a date-stamped quotation.
Environmental Remediation Sites
NY Open Data
The full state dataset. Search program_number 932008 for Cayuga Island or
932081 for Griffon Park; filter county to Niagara to see every
remediation site in the area. This is where the island’s Class P status and its
West Rivershore Drive address of record come from.
Site Classifications
NYSDECThe official definitions of classes 1 through 5 and A, C, P, PR and N. The source for what Class P actually means, including DEC’s own caution that the information for such a site is “preliminary in nature and unverified.”
Environmental Site Database Search
NYSDECDEC’s own search front end for remediation sites, and the route to the DECinfo Locator map if you would rather look at this geographically than by site number.
Superfund site profile — Cayuga Island LF
US EPA · NYD980507925The federal record, listed at Rivershore Drive, Niagara Falls, NY 14304, EPA Region 2. States the site is not on the National Priorities List and was determined not to qualify for it based on existing information.
Soil Vapor Intrusion
NYSDOHThe state health department’s guidance on the exposure pathway at the centre of this investigation — how it is evaluated, what sub-slab and indoor air sampling involves, and what mitigation looks like.
New York State Inactive Landfill Initiative
NYSDEC · PDFThe programme under which Griffon Park was investigated in 2022. Explains the statutory authority, how sites are prioritised, and what the Solid Waste Site Mitigation and Remediation Priority List is for.
Reporting
Four articles carry facts that appear nowhere in the agency documents — the named companies, the 240-yard figure, the attendance at the community meeting, and the on-the-record disagreement among residents. They are cited throughout this site as reporting, distinct from agency findings.
Two decades since DEC last probed Cayuga Island contaminants
Niagara Gazette · Mark ScheerThe deepest historical reporting available. Source for the 1984 joint EPA/USGS report, the 240-yard extension, the named companies, and the environmental attorney’s criticism of the delay.
DEC: chemical sampling underway on west end of Cayuga Island
Niagara Gazette · Mark ScheerSource for the contaminant list including lead and BHC, the roughly 22 property owners at the LaSalle library meeting, Mayor Restaino’s comment, and DEC Region 9 Director Chad Staniszewski’s confirmation that health risks are being evaluated.
Investigation into Cayuga Island contaminants continue
WGRZ · Dave McKinleySource for the two opposed on-the-record positions: Assemblyman Morinello urging cooperation, and property owner J. Gary DiLaura disputing that any danger exists.
DEC launches investigation into toxic pollutants found on Cayuga Island
WGRZ · Zachary PenqueA clear account of the discovery sequence from the October 2025 odour report through the February 2026 outreach.
The Buffalo News covered the story in 2026 under the headline “Toxic chemicals found under soil in Niagara Falls neighborhood spark state investigation.” Its article sits behind a paywall that this record cannot read in full, so nothing here is sourced to it. It is noted so the omission is visible rather than silent.
Sources on this page
- NYSDEC, West Cayuga Island — Site Investigation Update (1 September 2026). Primary
- NYSDEC document folder, site 932081, Griffon Park. Primary
- NYSDEC document folder, site 932008, Cayuga Island. Primary