Love Canal Ain't So Lovely

The Love Canal Tragedy
I will always remember the television news stories about Love Canal and the sad and cold looking abandoned homes. Behind the doors held the devastation and pain of who knows how many diseased generations caused by dumping 22,000 tons of toxic chemicals into a huge ditch left by the Love Company, when the funds ran out to build an intended Venice-type canal system. In a report from California State University web site, "The Love Canal was used as a chemical waste disposal site from 1942 until 1953, by Hooker, the city of Niagara Falls, and the US Army, until it was full with approximately 22,000 tons of toxic chemicals, waste, and garbage. In 1953, it was physically covered with a clay cap, and then in 1978 the New York State School Board purchased the land for $1.00 from Hooker Chemical Company."

http://web.csuchico.edu/~tm5/disaster.htm

I researched the EPA site and found a report by Eckardt Beck, January 1979. Beck was administrator of EPA Region 2, 1977-1979 He reports a sign a resident had put in front of his house in 1978, "Give me liberty. I already have death." Ironically, grading the site and preparation of the land for building would weaken the soil cap put over the dump. Twenty-five years after the Hooker Company stopped dumping chemicals, heavy rain further weakened the soil and the black oily substance came to the surface. He stated that he visited the site and that there were, "Trees and gardens were turning black and dying. One entire swimming pool had been had been popped up from its foundation, afloat now on a small sea of chemicals. Puddles of noxious substances were pointed out to me by the residents. Some of these puddles were in their yards, some were in their basements, others yet were on the school grounds. Everywhere the air had a faint, choking smell. Children returned from play with burns on their hands and faces." In his report he states that the Love Canal issue was really the start of the Superfund to assist toxic sites in cleanup efforts. Good thing.

http://www.epa.gov/history/topics/lovecanal/01.htm

I was still looking for who the villains were in this whole case when I found a hero. Mrs. Gibbs. Mrs. Gibbs went door to door in her neighborhood to ask if anyone had illnesses since the moved into the Love Canal neighborhood. She was concerned about her and the neighborhood's children's health. She was also concerned about the safety of the school all the kid's went to. She went to the School Board who dismissed her as a "hysterical housewife" and in her interview she said that, "…every government door was slammed in our faces." She said that she had to overcome a lot of fear to pursue what she knew was the right thing to do. The whole story is amazing and the addition of the information I got about Mrs. Gibbs, I feel that all those in power, including Love who left the big hole in the ground in the first place, who had the opportunity to profit from this, including the Board of Health, and School Board are the villains and are culpable.

http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2002/fenceline/getinvolved_article01.html

The story isn't over. The current status on the love Canal Case according to an article called The Love Canal Project by Corrie Kennedy, " To date, over 400 chemicals have been identified in the Love Canal dump site. After twenty years and more than $250 million for clean-up and containment (Brownfield News, 1998) the New York Department of Health has deemed the area habitable (Hoffman, 1995). The perceptions of the residents, however, has become one of the most difficult challenges of the Love Canal case. In order to redevelop the area, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation and the EPA have devised a plan for reduced housing prices to encourage home buyers to consider the area. This has become a controversial issue as people who believe the area is less than safe, feel that his (sic) will subject low income families to health hazards (OMcC Productions, 2001)." According to this article, the chemical company warned any buyer in writing that the land could not be utilized for homes or schools. They were still held responsible and were fined $129 million to give to the government for cleanup, that would be disbursed to the EPA and FEMA and other federal agencies. The Chemical Companies must be rich and are in fact earning 1 trillion annually. That's 1 billion per employee.

http://www.nap.edu/books/0309061792/html/46.html

The Kennedy article stated that it will take 20,000 years for the toxic waste at Love Canal to decompose. So, none of us for the next 19,900 years will live long enough for this dump to be safe. Maybe that is what they were counting on.

http://www.science.mcmaster.ca/geo/faculty/boyce/geo4g03/projects/kennedy