Testing is being carried out on nearby soil and wildlife for toxic heavy metals that may have drifted from Lafarge’s Revena plant, report local press.

Last weekend, Ward Stone, a wildlife pathologist for the state Department of Environmental Conservation, took samples near the Lafarge North America plant at the urging of a local citizens group worried that pollution could be making people sick.

"It defies logic that no one has actually looked into this up to now," said Elyse Griffin, co-founder of Community Advocates for Safe Emissions, which formed this year to press for answers about plant emissions. "We’ve asked DEC and the state Health Department for their studies, and they tell us none had been done."

The plant is state’s second-largest source of mercury pollution, according to a company study issued by Lafarge in January to DEC. Earlier annual reports through the federal Toxic Release Inventory had mercury at even higher levels.