Love Canal Essay ⋆ Environment Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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Following disclosure of toxic dumping in a site that later became residential, the case of Love Canal demonstrated the hazards of buried and long-forgotten toxic chemicals, galvanized grassroots environmental action, and became the paradigmatic case for the control and management of brownfield sites. It also put working people and mothers at the center of environmental action, setting a precedent for environmental justice activity in the decades that followed.

The Love Canal is a neighborhood in the southeast district of Niagara Falls, New York, named for 19th century entrepreneur William T. Love. Love obtained the area approximately four miles upstream from the falls in 1892, hoping to harness water to generate power to the number of industries developing on the seven-mile stretch of the river to the mouth of Lake Ontario. He also intended for the canal to be a bypass route around the falls. After only a few years it was obvious Love’s plan had failed, largely due to a nationwide economic depression and the invention of alternating electronic current. Love abandoned the project with only one mile dug, and the area remained a recreational spot into the early 20th century.

In 1920 the land was sold at a public auction and became a landfill and chemical dumping site. Hooker Chemical, a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum Corporation, used the site from 1942 to 1953 and was the primary corporation responsible for the nearly 21,000 tons (42 million pounds) of toxic chemicals dumped on the site. The City of Niagara Falls and the U.S. Army both dumped assorted wastes there as well. As the landfill reached maximum capacity in 1953, Hooker filled it with dirt. At the same time, the postwar baby boom created a huge demand for housing in the area. The Niagara Falls Board of Education purchased the Love Canal land from Hooker Chemical for a dollar.

Hooker claims they included a brief warning about the chemical wastes buried on the property in the deed transfer, as well as a disclaimer absolving the company from liability. Single-family housing was quickly built on and near the land, and soon the 99th Street Elementary School was erected on the former landfill. Homeowners were not provided any information about the chemicals below their homes or their potential hazards.

Early on, between the 1950s and 1970s, residents of the area complained of odors and “substances” appearing in their yards. Families also complained of their children being burnt. City officials visited the neighborhood and the school and responded by covering the “substances” with dirt or clay. Complaints persisted, however, and the city hired Calspan Corporation to investigate. Calspan’s report, completed in 1976, documented the presence of toxic chemical residue in the air and in sump pumps of residents. They also found 50-gallon drums buried just below the surface of the canal cap and high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the storm sewer system. The consultants recommended covering the canal cap with a clay cap, sealing home sump pumps, and installing a tile drainage system to control the movement of wastes. No action was taken.

The area continued to grow despite the complaints, with approximately 800 private, singlefamily homes, 240 low-income homes, and three schools there by 1978. The story broke that year, as a reporter for the Niagara Gazette, Michael Brown, wrote a series of articles about hazardous waste problems in the Niagara Falls area. He included the Love Canal dump site, prompting residents to renew complaints to city officials. By this time residents were complaining of more than just noxious smells and substances; many were also documenting mysterious health problems, including a high rate of birth defects and miscarriages. Also in 1978, the New York State Department of Health began to collect air and soil tests in residents’ basements and to document the health concerns of 239 families in the area.

On April 25, 1978, Dr. Robert Whalen, New York State Commissioner of Health, proclaimed the area a public health hazard and ordered the Niagara County Health Department to remove exposed chemicals from the site and to install a protective fence around the area. The report prompted further action by residents. Lois Gibbs, mother of two small children, canvassed the area to petition for the closure of the 99th Street School, which her son attended. Residents and state and local health department officials met throughout the spring and summer of 1978. In the fall of 1978, State Commissioner of Health Whalen issued a medical emergency for the Love Canal area and ordered the immediate closure of the 99th Street School.

Immediate cleanup plans began, and it was recommended that pregnant women and children under the age of two move from the area. On August 7, 1978, President Jimmy Carter declared Love Canal a federal emergency, providing funds for the permanent relocation of 239 families living in the first two rows of homes encircling the landfill. The remaining ten blocks of homes, including that of activist Lois Gibbs, were not included.

Bibliography:

“Background on the Love Canal,” October 17, 2001, Love Canal Collection, State University of New York at Buffalo, buffalo.edu/libraries (cited June 2006);
Thomas H. Fletcher, From Love Canal to Environmental Justice: The Politics of Hazardous Waste on the CanadaS. Border (Broadview, 2003);
Lois Gibbs, Love Canal: The Story Continues (New Society Publishers, 1998).