6
6
The Love Canal Scandal
In the early 1900sWilliamT. Love startedwork on his dream—to build a canal between the
upper and lower NiagaraRivers to generate power for a plannedmodel city. Before the
canal was amile long, the economy failed—andwith it, Love's dream. Hooker Chemical
purchased the land in 1920 and for the next three decades theCity of Niagara, theUSArmy,
andHooker dumpedwaste into the canal. Eventually, the dumpwas filled and a clay cap
was placed over thewaste site. Soon after, the city persuadedHooker to sell the property for
$1with the threat of theConstitution's imminent domain clause.AlthoughHooker added a
lengthy disclaimer to the property deed detailing the toxic nature of the site, within two
years sewer lineswere dug into the clay cap that had sealed thewaste from leaching to the
surface. In the late 1950s, about 100 homes and a school were built near the 20,000 tons of
waste (Figure 1). Heavy snow and rainfall in 1975 and 1976 caused highwater levels, which
exposed the 55-gallon drums (Figure 2).
NiagaraGazette reporterMichael Brown broke the story, explaining that many residents
were living on a toxicwaste dump. From the time the familiesmoved in during the ’50s
they had noticed strange odors, and in the early ’70s a tar-like substancewas reported in
many basements.Analysis using the 8000 seriesmethods, and later the 600 series andCLP
methods, identified 248 chemicals, including 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-
p
-dioxin, which is
believed to be themost toxic substance known toman.ManyVOCswere discovered in the
ground, water, and air—most notably benzene—a known carcinogen. Therewere no toxico-
logical data available for 100 of the 248 compounds. OnAugust 2, 1978 state health offi-
cials ordered all pregnant women and children under the age of two to leave the area.A
week later, with headlines across the country detailing the LoveCanal disaster, President
Carter approved the immediate evacuation of 221 families. That number would soar to near-
ly 900 families by the time this tragedy completely unfolded.
Thiswas the first environmental disaster given daily front-linemedia coverage. It was a
turning point for environmental awareness and ultimately helped to shape the environmental
testingmethods that are used today for the identification ofVOCs in air, water, and soil. The
combined efforts of environmental laboratories, engineering firms, and regulatory agencies
have evolved since LoveCanal to protect the public and ultimately save lives.
Figure 2.
Four decades after dumping, toxicwaste
drums like thesewere exposed
at LoveCanal, NY.
Figure 1.
Infrared aerial photo of Love
Canal area (spring 1978)
showing 99th Street elemen-
tary school (center), two
rings of homes bordering the
landfill, and LaSalle Housing
Development (upper right).
White patchy areas are barren
sectionswhere vegetationwill
not grow, presumably due to
leaching chemicals.
Image courtesy of StateUniversity of NewYork at BuffaloUniversityArchives.
We thankDanDi Landro, VisitingAssistant Librarian, for helpwith obtaining the photograph.
