• What does the Incident of Love
Canal Show? What lesson do be
Learn form it?
Answers
Answer:
The tragedy of Love Canal is so incredulous that most people cannot comprehend how such a disaster was allowed to occur. Yet, it is important to note the problem started well before 1970, the year of the first Earth Day, which means the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), along with many important laws and policies, had not yet existed. Environmental awareness wasn’t part of the average American’s psyche back then.
Love Canal is the name of a post-war, working-class neighborhood built adjacent to a defunct canal project branching off the Niagara River in upstate NY. Located just a few miles from Niagara Falls, it was supposed to become a model community representing modern living. Instead, it became one of the worst environmental disasters in the nation’s history. The Hooker Chemical Company had used the partially dug canal as a chemical waste dump from 1942-1953, amounting to almost 21,000 tons of toxic chemicals, including approximately a dozen known carcinogens, eventually leaching into the basements and yards of homes in the area. To make matters worse, the Niagara Falls School Board decided to build a school directly above the canal. Although they were warned of potential hazards by the chemical company, the school board persisted, even signing off on a release form that was supposed to prevent any legal action against the Hooker Chemical Company in the future. The land itself was bought for just $1.
Unfortunately, a series of illnesses began to afflict residents in the late 1970’s due to the nature of the chemicals buried in the ground. These included asthma, epilepsy, migraines, and nephrosis (kidney disease), along with abnormally high rates of birth defects and miscarriages. News of this tragedy began to build momentum thanks to local activists, which culminated in 1978 when President Carter declared the area a federal health emergency and ordered the government to relocate all affected families.
This action represented the first time in American history that emergency funds were used for something other than natural disasters.