- hot-spots
- chemical pollution
- USA
- The Love Canal Tragedy
Problems
Chemical waste dump
Love Canal is an area in Niagara Falls, New York, infamous as the site of a 70-acre landfill that became the site of a huge environmental disaster in the 1970s. Decades of dumping toxic chemicals harmed the health of hundreds of residents. The area was later cleaned up as part of Operation Superfund.
History of the City
The history of the American city of Love Canal began in the 1890s when businessman William Love decided to build the world's finest park city near Niagara Falls. Ironically, 70 years later the place became one of the most dangerous in America. William Love planned to connect the Niagara River to Lake Ontario by an 11-kilometer canal and put a power plant on its shore. It was to supply electricity to the city under construction.
Stopping the construction of the city
William planned to make Love Canal the most advanced city in the United States - at least a million people were to live there. But the businessman's plans were not destined to come true - the stock market panic scared away the main investors; on top of that, Congress forbade the use of the Niagara River water to preserve the waterfalls. William froze the construction of the city. "Construction," however, was too strong a word. He managed to dig only a small pit and lay a little more than a kilometer from the canal.
Landfill
For many years the site of America's failed "industrial jewel" was a wasteland. A few years later, the area was purchased by the Hooker Chemical and Plastics Corporation. The company decided to use the canal as a dumping ground for chemical waste. Over 20,000 tons of chemical waste had been buried within ten years at the landfill. In addition to Hooker Chemical and Plastics Corporation, the landfill was also used by municipal companies, and they were no less toxic.
Use of the channel by companies and children
The company's waste policy was simply the height of negligence. And this is even though the practice of such dumping was already widespread in the mid-20th century - at that time people did not fully understand the real danger of this "garbage. But even this does not justify the negligence they allowed: the same pond on the canal territory was "shared" by both waste and children, who bathed in it and skated in winter. Over the years, 210-liter drums of chemicals were dumped into the canal, so the total amount of hazardous waste accumulated in it was about 21 tons.
Sale of canal territory
Later, when Love Canal exhausted all its possibilities as a toxic waste dump, the company's management came up with nothing better than to sell the territory to the municipality of the nearby city of Niagara Falls. Hooker Chemical and Plastics Corporation drafted the contract so cleverly that they were able to absolve themselves of all responsibility for the contents of the landfill. The canal was backfilled with earth and the new Niagara Falls neighborhood was built on it.
Construction
During the construction phase, excavators came across a couple of waste barrels. Soon two schools, a kindergarten, and many apartment buildings were lined up in the area. None of the new residents knew the history of the canal - at first, people were even surprised by the colored oily puddles in the yards. The basements of the houses were often covered with a sticky, black, foul-smelling substance.
Analysis of water from the Love Canal
The problem soon spread beyond the city limits, when heavy rains caused chemicals to rise from the ground along with the groundwater, and drew the attention of the authorities. A study of the area by New York specialists began. Analyses of the water, land, and air showed the presence of at least 82 different kinds of chemicals. When journalists took water samples for analysis, it turned out that the concentration of dioxins and benzene was several orders of magnitude higher.
Impact on the health of children and pregnant women
Residents have become accustomed to having children with developmental abnormalities. Mental retardation, nervous diseases, frequent miscarriages, cancer, asthma, and epilepsy were not uncommon here. Nearly 60 percent of children born in Love Canal from 1974 to 1978 had at least one birth defect. The daughter of local activist Karen Schroeder had about 12 birth defects.
Evacuation
When the situation became critical, the decision was made to evacuate Love Canal. Children and pregnant women were the first to be evacuated, as well as all those who lived closest to the landfill.
Gallery
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Timelines
2015
Glenn Springs Holdings completed the removal of the Love Canal waste from the Wheatfield dump. New York state conducted water and soil testing and is completing its investigation of the site. Preliminary results showed "landfill contaminants do not present an off-site exposure concern to neighboring properties."
2004
The EPA announced that the major clean-up objectives had been achieved and the Love Canal landfill was removed from its Superfund list as a hazardous toxic-chemical site although some sections are still quarantined from public access and usage by a barbed-wire fence as a reminder of the Love Canal’s landmark legacy as the first hazardous waste disposal incident of national significance, for it was not confined to the workplace but “hit people where they lived.”
1995
Occidental Chemical Corporation and Occidental Petroleum agree to a settlement of 12129 million dollars to reimburse the federal government’s clean-up costs of the Love Canal landfill site.
1994
Occidental Chemical Corporation and Occidental Petroleum agree to a settlement of 9898 million dollars to reimburse New York State’s clean-up costs of the Love Canal landfill site.
1988
The New York State Health Department completed a five-year “Habitability Study” and concluded that areas and sections of the Love Canal site were “as habitable as other areas of Niagara Falls.” A public organization, the Love Canal Revitalization Agency, rebuilt homes and renamed the area Black Creek Village. Nearly all of these renovated homes were privately sold during the 1990s. Some environmental groups and scientists have questioned and criticized this “Habitability Study.”
1984
The EPA and Hooker Chemical and Plastics Corporation settled on the remediation of the Love Canal landfill and the protection of drinking water from endangerment in the City of Niagara Falls. The agreement required Hooker to establish and execute detailed scientific protocols, engineering designs, construction plans, and quality-control procedures for containment, maintenance, monitoring, environmental health, and safety of the Love Canal landfill and the city’s drinking water.
1983
New York Supreme Court announced a 20 million dollar settlement in favor of former and current Love Canal residents (about 1,330 families) with Occidental Chemical Corporation, a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum, and the establishment of a 1 million dollar medical trust fund for the residents.
1980
In April, New York State filed a 635 million dollar lawsuit against the Hooker Chemical and Plastics Corporation, Occidental Chemical Corporation, and Occidental Petroleum Corporation, which claimed that they were responsible for the Love Canal environmental disaster. In May, the EPA announced that blood-test results of the Love Canal community revealed chromosome damage and a proclivity for cancers among a sampling of area residents. In October, President Carter declared a “Second Federal State of Emergency” in the Love Canal area. He traveled to Niagara Falls and signed a bill enacted by Congress, the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), also known as the “Superfund” Act, which gave the federal government authority to clean up hazardous-waste sites and provided support from a special trust fund to address environmental issues and clean up hazardous waste sites, including the permanent relocation of all Love Canal residents.
1979
In January, a study by a cancer researcher, Dr. Beverly Paigen, revealed a high rate of birth defects and miscarriages among Love Canal families and recommended the evacuation of more residents. In February, the New York State Health Department issued a second evacuation order for 30 families with pregnant women and children under age two who lived in the ten-block area (between 97th and 103rd Streets) outside of the first evacuation zone of 239 homes. In March, United States Senate and House of Representatives sub-committees convened hearings into the Love Canal environmental disaster. In April, the US Environmental Protection Agency provided 4 million dollars for remedial clean-up work at the Love Canal, and the Federal Disaster Assistance Administration provided 1 million dollars in debt assistance to the city of Niagara Falls. In June, the New York State Legislature extended property exemptions, retroactive to 1978, to more than 300 families in the area of Love Canal. In September, the New York State Health Department temporarily relocated 300 additional families who lived in the ten-block area because they began to experience health problems during the cleanup projects due to exposure to harmful chemicals. By October, more than 800 lawsuits for punitive and compensatory damages have been filed against the Hooker Chemical and Plastics Corporation, Niagara County, the city of Niagara Falls, and the Board of Education of Niagara Falls. In December, the United States Department of Justice filed a 124-million-dollar lawsuit against the Hooker Chemical and Plastics Corporation and its parent company, Occidental Chemical Corporation.
1978
New York State Health Commissioner (Dr. Robert Whalen) began health studies of the Love Canal community (house-to-house collecting of blood samples, levels of toxic vapors, and medical exams and studies of residents) that subsequently confirmed that a serious public health hazard existed. New York Health Department officials met with Love Canal residents and explained the hazards of exposure to toxic chemicals in and around homes. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from its tests confirmed the existence of toxic vapors in home basements as a serious health threat to the Love Canal community. In August, the New York State Health Commissioner declared a “State of Emergency at Love Canal” and ordered the closing of the 99th Street Elementary School and the evacuation and relocation of pregnant women and children under age two. In August, President Jimmy Carter declared a “Federal State of Emergency” at Love Canal and provided funds ($10 million) to permanently relocate the 239 families living in the first two rows of homes encircled by the Love Canal landfill site. The remaining residents who lived in the ten-block area were told that they were not at risk. These residents vehemently protested their exclusion from relocation.
1976
In a series of articles, the Niagara Gazette (and reporter Michael H. Brown) reported that chemical residues from the Love Canal landfill between 97th and 99th Streets have been seeping into the basements of homes in the area. These reports cited illnesses and injuries to residents and pets and the destruction of plant life. The newspaper urged prompt government action.
1955
The Board of Education of Niagara Falls completed construction on and opened the 99th Street Elementary School and sold unused sections of the Love Canal property to home developers to build residences
1953
Hooker Chemical and Plastics Corporation sold the Love Canal property (approximately 15 acres) for $1.00 to the Board of Education of Niagara Falls with a deed disclaimer of responsibility for any future damages due to the presence of buried chemicals.
1942
Hooker Chemical and Plastics Corporation began dumping chemical wastes at the Love Canal, and by 1952 had dumped nearly 22,000 tons of chemical waste into the canal.