The Love Canal is an area in the southeast corner of the city of Niagara Falls, New York, near the border with Canada. A canal, named after William T. Love, which initiated the building in the early 1890s, was partially completed (about 1.6 km) but was never commissioned.
Love Canal also came to be the name of a major environmental scandal in the United States that received a great deal of attention from 1978 until 1995 when Occidental Petroleum was ordered to pay $ 129 million in damages.
In 1920, the canal and surrounding land were sold to the city of Niagara Falls, which began dumping chemical waste into the canal. It was considered suitable because of the presence of dense clay layers. In the 1940s and early 1950s, the company Hoker Chemical and Plastics Corporation excavated about 22,000 tonnes of toxic waste in the area. In 1952 the dumping ceased, and the canal was covered with a slightly clay layer. Later, when the city grew sharply, the local school board wanted to build a school in the area, despite warnings. The site chosen for the school building was found to be unsuitable and changed to another location, which, however, turned out to be directly on top of a layer of chemical waste. During the construction, part of the protective clay layer was thus destroyed.
In 1957, sewage pipes were built into an area that would be built adjacent to the waste dump. Thus, gravel was used, which increased the leakage of chemicals.
In the following years, people in the area began to notice problems with odors and "substances" that began to be noticed in the gardens.
In 1978, Lois Gibbs, chairman of Love Canal Homeowners' Association, began to investigate the health status of the residents. The area had a very high incidence of cancer, and an alarming incidence of birth defects among newborns. After further research, Gibbs found that the area was exposed to chemical hazards due to the nearby waste dump. Thereafter, a three-year battle began to prove that the waste buried by Hoker Chemical was actually the cause of the health problems. During this period, the residents encountered resistance from both Hoker Chemical (now Occidental Petroleum) and from the authorities regarding the liability issue. Even among the residents themselves, there was some skepticism about the protests, which made the activists frustrated. However, the school that was built early in the area was within the tipping area itself and had to be demolished. However, neither the school board nor the chemical company wanted to admit responsibility. Â
In 1978, the area was also known through reports in the American media, and it was referred to as a "health bomb". On August 7, 1978, President Jimmy Carter declared the area an emergency at the federal level, and those living closest to the landfill were evacuated. Scientific studies found a number of carcinogens, mainly benzene. In 1980, it was found that residents of the area were affected by chromosome changes. On May 21, 1980, Jimmy Carter declared a state of emergency in the area, and 700 households were temporarily evacuated. Finally, the state redeemed more than 800 homes and the Congress decided on Superfund, a law that makes polluters liable (and a tax-funded fund for cases where it is not possible to find out who is responsible). Most houses in the area were demolished. Some older residents on the eastern side of the area remain. Holiday homes were also built in the early 1990s, along a fence that separates from the poisoned area. Occidental Petroleum was sued and ordered to pay $ 129 million in 1995. The clean-up of the contaminated area was led by the Canadian-based company Conestoga-Rovers & Associates.
