Eventually, the site was cleaned and deleted off the list in 2004. [citation needed], Activism at Love Canal was initially organized by community residents Tom Heiser and Lois Gibbs, with Lois Gibbs often serving as spokesperson. The first structure built on the Love Canal site after the land was acquired by the Niagara Falls School Board in 1953. Both sides will also drop all other claims against each other. In one case, two out of four children in a single Love Canal family had birth defects; one girl was born deaf with a cleft palate, an extra row of teeth, and slight retardation, and a boy was born with an eye defect. The Love Canal neighborhood is located in the city of Niagara Falls, in western New York state. Quite simply, Love Canal is one of the most appalling environmental tragedies in American history. New York State continues studies including house-to-house collecting of blood samples for analysis. by Eckardt C. Beck Free essays. During construction of the 99th Street School in 1954, contractors discovered chemical seepage under the foundation. liability and agree to a cost settlement with the government. Please reorganize this content to explain the subject's impact on popular culture, "New York State Task Force on Toxic Substances Files of Chairman and Assemblyman Maurice Hinchey." [73] The homes are farther away from where the chemicals were dumped. [11] Upon its closure, the canal was covered with a clay seal to prevent leakage. "[31] In total, 800 private houses and 240 low-income apartments were constructed. In total, 950 families had been evacuated. [3] In 1955, a second school, the 93rd Street School, was opened six blocks away. In the late '50s, about 100 homes and a school were built at the site. February 8: New York State announces it will pay temporary relocation costs for about 30 families with either pregnant women or children under age 2 between 97th and 103rd Streets after documenting claims of birth deformities and pregnancy-related problems outside the first ring of homes at Love Canal. The Love Canal area was originally the site of an abandoned canal that became a dumping ground for nearly 22,000 tons of chemical waste (including polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxin, and pesticides) produced by the Hooker Chemicals and Plastics Corporation in the 1940s and '50s. 'I think it's basically a pretty good settlement, but there isn't any provision in it at all for any type of health studies, which is the original reason we were all moved out of Love Canal -- for health reasons.'. [65] About 260 homes north of the canal have been renovated and sold to new owners, and about 150 acres (61ha) east of the canal have been sold to commercial developers for light industrial uses. [55], By 1978, Love Canal had become a national media event with articles referring to the neighborhood as "a public health time bomb", and "one of the most appalling environmental tragedies in American history". You may know all about what happens to water aboveground, but what do you know about groundwater? This began her organization's two-year effort to demonstrate that the waste buried by Hooker Chemical was responsible for the health problems of local residents. Quite simply, Love Canal is one of the most appalling environmental tragedies in American history. The Love Canal site caused a public health emergency in the late 1970s. Love felt that by digging a short canal between the upper and lower Niagara Rivers, power could be generated cheaply to fuel the industry and homes of his would-be model city. But despite considerable backing, Love's project was unable to endure the one-two punch of fluctuations in the economy and Nikola Tesla's discovery of how to economically transmit electricity over great distances by means of an alternating current. In many yards, the only vegetation that grew were shrubby grasses. The company agreed to pay $129 million in compensation and interest. The resulting breaches combined with particularly heavy rainstorms released and spread the chemical waste, resulting in a public health emergency and an urban planning scandal. In 1948, the City of Niagara Falls ended self-sufficient disposal of refuse and Hooker Chemical became the sole user and owner of the site. Paper, rubber, plastics, petrochemicals, carbon insulators, and abrasives composed the city's major industries. The school district sold the remaining land, resulting in homes being constructed by private developers, as well as the Niagara Falls Housing Authority. In Gibbs' neighborhood, there was a high rate of unexplained illnesses, miscarriages, and intellectual disability. [citation needed], Congressman John LaFalce (D), who represented the district, paid a high profile visit to Love Canal in September 1977, to raise attention to the serious problems. Government decision makers are seldom held accountable for broader social goals in the way that private owners are by liability rules and potential profits. families in light if her study revealing a high rate of birth defects and miscarriages among Love Canal families. Rev up your mental engines and get your juices pumping in this high-octane petroleum quiz. [49] Several studies reported higher levels of low-birth weight babies and birth defects among the exposed residents[50] with some evidence the effect subsided after the exposure was eliminated. It sold the land, and a developer built tract houses on the site. [4], Love Canal is a neighborhood located in the city of Niagara Falls in the northwestern region of New York state. Over time, vegetation settled and began to grow atop the dump site. Kenny was the first president and is now vice . Love Canal soon became the first hazardous waste site to be featured in TV news reports and to get front page, headline billing in newspapers and magazines in New York State and nationally. It is also the name of a fifteen-acre, working-class neighborhood of around 800 single-family homes built directly adjacent to the canal. The state government and federal government used $15 million to purchase 400 homes closest to Love Canal and demolished several rings of houses. But the residents characterize things more simply. The company agreed to pay $129 million in compensation and interest. Subsequent investigations established an abnormally high incidence of chromosomal damage among the areas residents, presumably caused by their long-term exposure to the toxic chemical wastes. The area north of Love Canal became known as Black Creek Village. At first, the Suez Canal Authority had demanded $916 million in compensation, which was later lowered to $550 million. "[28], In 2004, federal officials announced that the Superfund cleanup has ended, although cleanup had concluded years prior. 33% of the residents had undergone chromosomal damage. [13], By the end of the 1940s, Hooker Chemical Company was searching for a place to dispose its large quantity of chemical waste. In an article prepared for the February, 1978 EPA Journal, I wrote, regarding chemical dumpsites in general, that "even though some of these landfills have been closed down, they may stand like ticking time bombs." New York State Department of Health reveals its plan for medical studies of Love Canal residents. Love Canal. It was this attempt to evade their responsibility, Colten and Skinner contend, that would "ultimately come back to haunt not only Hooker but all other chemical producers in the United States through the strict liability provisions of Superfund legislation. Eventually, the federal government relocated more than 800 families and reimbursed them for the loss of their homes. We're worried sick about the grandchildren and their children.". One entire swimming pool had been had been popped up from its foundation, afloat now on a small sea of chemicals. Albany, N.Y.: Oct. 1980. Pocket parks, tree plantings and nature trails are among 46 environmental education and enhancement projects selected this year by the advisory panel of the Niagara County Environmental Fund (NCEF) to receive funding through the Love Canal settlement between New York State and Occidental Chemical Corp. NCEF is administered by the New York State Center for Hazardous Waste Management, located at UB. I-III. The New York Supreme Court announced three years later a $20 million settlement of the 1,337 . On August 7, 1978, United States President Jimmy Carter announced a federal health emergency, called for the allocation of federal funds, and ordered the Federal Disaster Assistance Agency to assist the City of Niagara Falls to remedy the Love Canal site. The past 50 years encompass nearly all of the major milestones in U.S. environmental legislation. [29] The subsequent construction of the LaSalle Expressway restricted groundwater from flowing to the Niagara River. People from across the country joined former Love Canal residents in Albany, New York at the capital to protest the decision to move new families back into the canal. Landfills can of course be an environmentally acceptable method of hazardous waste disposal, assuming they are properly sited, managed, and regulated. It took 27 years to fully litigate and resolve the prior cases. Census data revealed the area had a higher than median income, and the majority of its households included young children. The Hooker Chemicals & Plastics Corporation buried 22,000 tons of toxic wastes at Love Canal over 11 years, ending in 1953. In his remarks, Mr. Srolovic noted that the funding for the Program originated from the State's Love Canal settlement, stating that "it is fitting that monies arising from the tragedy of Love Canal are being used to sustain Niagara County's legacy of social and environmental advocacy." Love Canal BIBLIOGRAPHY [1] In 1894 entrepreneur William T. Love began building a canal to connect the Niagara River to Lake Ontario [2]. Test your knowledge with this quiz. I recall talking with the father of one the children with birth defects. [EPA Journal - January 1979]. Sept. 1989. [71], Houses in the residential areas on the east and west sides of the canal were demolished. The entire Love Canal Images collection can be found here. Robert Whalen, then-New York's Health Commissioner, also visited Love Canal and believed that the Canal constituted an emergency, stating: "Love Canal Chemical Waste Landfill constitutes a public nuisance and an extremely serious threat and danger to the health, safety and welfare of those using it, living near it or exposed to the conditions emanating from it, consisting among other things, of chemical wastes lying exposed on the surface in numerous places pervasive, pernicious and obnoxious chemical vapors and fumes affecting both the ambient air and the homes of certain residents living near such sites. Despite the disclaimer, the School Board began construction of the "99th Street School" in its originally intended location. Regarding the missing link of liability, if health-related dangers are detected, what are we as s people willing to spend to correct the situation? 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