The Niagara Falls “Love Canal”

By: Chealsea Slider

The Niagara Falls “Love Canal”

The “Love Canal”

neighborhood is

located in Niagara

Falls, New York.

The Niagara Fall “Love Canal”

In 1942, Hooker Chemicals and Plastic Corporations (now Occidental Chemical) purchased the site of the “Love Canal.”

From 1942 to 1953 Hooker Chemical disposed about 20,000 tons of mixed wastes into the “Love Canal.”

The Niagara Falls “Love Canal”

Shortly after Hooker Chemicals dumped the wastes, the land was sold to the Niagara Falls School Board for $1.00.

Around 1955,homes and the 99th Street Elementary School was built on the “Love Canal” property.

The Niagara Falls “Love Canal”

In 1975 and 1976 an unusual amount of rainfall fell and provided high groundwater levels to the residents living in the “Love Canal.”

The local streams and rivers became contaminated, basements began to ooze an oily residue and noxious chemical odors filled the air.

The Niagara Falls “Love Canal”

Major health problems began to occur. Children and dogs began to develop skin irritation after spending time in the field around the school, as well as rocks exploding when dropped.

Officials recommended pregnant women and children under the age of 2 to evacuate the homes, and forbidding families to eat food grown from their garden.

The Niagara Falls “Love Canal”

President Cater declared “The Love Canal” a federal disaster and provided funding to evacuate about 300 families living closest to the canal.

Outside the area another 700 families undertook a community health survey, because the Health Department refused to do one. The families found that about 56 percent of children within the area suffered from birth defects.

The Niagara Falls “Love Canal”

Families living around the “Love Canal” reported an increase in miscarriages, stillborn babies, cancer and other diseases.

It took more than two years before the remaining families were given the resources to leave. On October 1, 1980, President Cater signed a bill that provided funding for the relocation.

The Niagara Falls “Love Canal”

The Niagara Falls “Love Canal”

The “Love Canal” crisis awakened the nation to the hazards of exposure to chemicals in our environment and opened the passage of the 1981 Superfund legislation to clean up the contaminated “Love Canal.”

Thirty-two years later, about 65 million people live within four miles of a Superfund site.

While the Superfund program is far from perfect, it is essential.

The Niagara Falls “Love Canal” Summary

The “Love Canal” was a devastating disaster that effected many families living in the Niagara Falls area. Hooker Chemical dumped 20,000 tons of chemicals into the ground. Then sold the land to the Niagara Falls School Board for 1.00 dollar all the while knowing there could be potential health effects from the toxic waste.

Sources•http://www.library.ucsb.edu/istl/00-spring/article2.html•http://www.wired.com/images/article/full/2008/11/love_canal_450px.jpg•http://biology.kenyon.edu/slonc/bio3/2001projects/Superfundkdanis/historylovecanal.html•http://www.junkscience.com/news3/gibbs4.html•http://biology.kenyon.edu/slonc/bio3/2001projects/Superfundkdanis/overviewlovecanal.jpg•http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/0105/011005lovecanal.jpg•http://www.epa.gov/region2/superfund/npl/lovecanal/images.html•http://earthfirst.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/love-canal.jpg•http://www.womansday.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/images/05-love-canal-10-worst-manmade-natural-disasters/941467-1-eng-US/05-Love-Canal-10-Worst-Manmade-Natural-Disasters.jpg•http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/superfund-redevelopment-1.jpg