Chemicals Buried In Niagara Falls, NY

This photo was taken in Niagara Falls, NY, across Girard Avenue looking toward the front of the Regal Theater, which is on Builder's Way. I would just like to alert everyone, with memory of the Love Canal, that there is a large volume of chemicals buried under the grass in the foreground of this photo.

I didn't record the date but it was when the parking lot of the Regal Theater was being built. I happened to drive by and saw that a very deep hole had been dug, which was completely unnecessary in the construction of the parking lot. Neither was the hole for any kind of underground sewer or water lines.

There was a large number of metal barrels being taken off a truck and stacked in the hole. The next time I went by the hole was covered up. The place where I saw the barrels being buried ended up being covered with grass, instead of being part of the parking lot. There was also a larger plot of grass next to the one where I saw the barrels being buried.

Why would it be necessary to dig a very deep hole, for the construction of a parking lot, if the place where the hole was dug was going to be covered with grass, and no underground conduits like sewer or water lines were being put in?

In the satellite image below the white roof at the top is that of the Regal Theater on Builder's Way. Girard Avenue runs immediately to the left of the image, Builder's Way runs immediately to the bottom. To the right of the image is Home Depot. The top of the image is west.

In the left of the image are two areas of grass in the parking lot of the Regal Theater. There is a small square of grass and a larger rectangle of grass. Both are right against Girard Avenue. The photo above was taken from the opposite side of Girard Avenue, facing northwest across the small square of grass to the front of the Regal Theater.
 

(Image Credit-Google Earth)

The small square of grass is where I saw the metal barrels being buried as I drove by on Girard Avenue. It was going on at the same time as construction of the parking lot, which looks like an attempt to camouflage that chemicals were being buried there.

A very deep hole had been dug and dozens of metal barrels were being placed in the hole. The workers were wearing chemical protective suits. I watched the newspapers to see what was going on, remembering the Love Canal, but saw nothing.

I did not go by that way the following day so I didn't actually witness any chemicals buried other than the ones under the small square of grass as described above. But why would that large rectangle of grass be there, unless it was also to hide chemicals buried beneath it? Anyone driving by would think that is was just work on the construction of the theater's parking lot, and that the hole might be dug for some kind of sewer or water lines.

There is a similar area of grass on the opposite, north, side of the Regal Theater-Home Depot parking lot, at the intersection of Builder's Way and Niagara Falls Blvd., but that is a separate plot. Years ago there used to be a gas station there.

It may be true that this apparent burial of chemicals is unlikely to result in another Love Canal. It was an accumulation of water, from the snowmelt following the "Blizzard of '77" and blocked from drainage to the Niagara River by a highway that had been built, which caused the mass emergence of buried chemicals then. If we look closely at the streets where these chemicals have apparently been buried, we see that the land has a gradual slope to the south and west, which should preclude an accumulation of water.

But I just thought everyone should know about this. I had planned to post this before but got distracted by other writing.