A Court of ActionA Court of ActionLove Canal in Niagara Falls, N.Y., is one of the countrys most notorious hazardous waste sites. It wasnt the first but in 1979, the heavy contamination at Love Canal, and subsequent environmental health risks in the community, caused then President Jimmy Carter to issue a state of emergency for the town. Over 300 families were moved from their homes. Love Canal spurred scientist, industry leaders, government officials, and grassroots activists to take a stand and act on behalf of our environment. In 1980, immediately following the Love Canal disaster, Congress asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to create the Superfund program to help address the containment and cleanup of toxic wastes that had been buried long ago.
A petition to the EPA for a Superfund was first circulated in April by an anonymous group seeking to mobilize its members and to create a Superfund to help address the environmental issues brought up in the lawsuit over the project at the Love Canal. On April 18, 1980, the EPA initiated the superfund to help reduce the number of hazardous waste sites and to provide the resources needed to clean up the Waste Wastes section of the project. At the same time, a group of environmental lawyers, environmentalists, and residents of Love Canal decided that more than half of the communities affected in this case would get funding for a superfund. This proposal received support from other organizations, among them the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, Friends of Water, the Department of the Interior, and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
The Citizens of Love Canal
The citizens, who were concerned over the health and stability of the communities that have to be protected from the impacts of hazardous materials on the environment, were first alerted by a letter from a member of the neighborhood committee.
The letter noted that in Love Canal and other places around Niagara Falls, drinking water was contaminated and that, although no one was sure of this, they knew there was an issue. In 1977 the Love Canal Environmental Protection District proposed a rule to limit drinking water contamination at the site. The rule focused on, but did not address, the dangers of hazardous materials in the water.
Love Canal in 1982 drew large crowds.
On May 6, 1982 the citizens began to take a stand for the people of the area as they watched the flood of lead and plastic clogs the creek. Most residents had been told to wait at least an hour during the storm. When the community did finally put in place an emergency water system to deal with the storm, nearly half of those people had left in the wake of the storm. The residents of the area in attendance began to feel like they were surrounded by people more than they are with this material contamination. The people were feeling like they were being lied to by those who believed they might finally have access to proper clean water.
On May 10, 1983, more than 1,000 homes and businesses in Love Canal, Niagara Falls, and the surrounding communities were packed to capacity to attend their first Superfund meeting to address the concerns voiced by the residents of this community. Over 100,000 people attended, and many community leaders and their fellow city residents gathered to plan their next steps and to share the experiences they would tell the residents of the Love Canal community. Many of the communities and businesses in attendance had been displaced and threatened by the storm. The volunteers at the meeting learned that the children would be moved into the community’s classrooms to help with homework and education. Several families were evacuated from their homes to make way for an evacuation group.
Several residents of Love Canal left their homes during the storm. When the storm stopped, they left their homes to go to work. They stayed put for months until the
Since Love Canal, hundreds of toxic sites have been discovered around the nation, and more recently, books and popular movies have tried to address the issue. One such book is A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr which is centered on a lawsuit filed by a group of citizens in a small industrial town called Woburn north of Boston in Massachusetts. The citizens filed suit against two corporations (W.R. Grace and Beatrice Foods) who operated near by plants and was believed to have contaminated the cities tap water for over the past 15 years until the wells were shut-down after it was discovered that they were heavily contaminated with trichloroethylene, commonly known