The Love Canal Tragedy
Who put the Chemicals in Love Canal?
The Love Canal disaster in Niagara Falls, New York, is one of the widely recognized and significant illustrations of groundwater contamination in the United States. Love Canal is a failed project near Niagara Falls which encompassed a neighborhood of over five hundred small family residences situated near the canal. The canal was to be used for the generation of hydroelectric power, but after failing to achieve its purpose, it was abandoned. The army disposed of waste generated during World War II, for instance, wastes from the troubled efforts to create nuclear bombs inside the Love Canal. The Hooker Chemical firm, however, purchased this property in 1942 and fully covered it using clay. The company also used the ditch as a dumping site where it disposed over twenty thousand tons of toxic chemicals, for instance, dioxin inside the trench and further lined it with clay to cover the wastes.
When the New York Board of Education bought the Love Canal, was there any warning about what was Under the Ground?
The New York Board of Education later bought the property from Hooker firm in 1953. When New York Board of Education brought the property, the Hooker Chemicals firm warned the board of the hazardous wastes and drafted a disclaimer that absolved the firm in case of any future liabilities. However, the New York Board of Education failed to understand the risks linked to the company’s wastes and proceeded to build an elementary school on this land. Homeowners were also never notified of the dangerous chemical wastes near their property.
Who released a report in the spring of 1980 that changed everything?
In 1980, the Environmental Protection Agency released a report that changed everything, making the Love Canal a ghost city. The environmental crisis experienced within the neighborhood of the Love Canal triggered the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund initiative.
How did the EPA clean-up the Tons of Chemicals in Love Canal?
The Environmental Protection Agency cleaned up the tons of chemicals in the Love Canal by establishing a federal Superfund law that aimed at cleaning up the toxic wastes and giving the community members a voice across the nation.