Love Canal was meant to be a dream city in which everyone would want to reside in. Ironically, this community turned out to be a complete disaster. William T. Love was the creator of Love Canal, which was built along side of the Niagara River. Love’s original plan was to create an enormous utopian metropolis. He wanted the entire city to be powered by hydroelectric dams on a new 11-kilometer canal that would be placed between the upper and lower parts of the Nigerian River. Love was able to build one of the 11 kilometer canals, but unfortunately, his dream was unsuccessful. The partially dug canal was purchased by the Hooker Chemical Company and used the canal as a chemical waste dump. In 1953, the Love Canal was lined with clay and covered
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A few days later, president Jimmy Carter declared a state of emergency and the state purchased and relocated 239 homes that were within the first two blocks closest to the canal, leaving the rest of the community to reside in Love Canal. The state believed that other homes that were not in the 10-foot fence were unaffected by the contaminants of the canal. The remaining families were furious. All families and children were being affected by the toxic chemicals regardless of their proximity to the 10-foot fence. The families who lived at Love Canal were all middle-class working families, meaning that they could not just pack their belongings and move because they did not have much money. The community began to express their frustration and concerns through constant protests. As a result of their persistence, the state was compelled to address the community’s concerns. In order to accommodate the needs of the residents, the state offered concessions of $200,000 from the Human Services Fund that would be used to pay the medical expenses of the residents. However, despite their efforts the residents of Love Canal rejected the concessions. The residents desperately needed to be relocated like first 239 …show more content…
The cleanup at the toxic waste site, the nation's most notorious, took 21 years and cost close to $400 million, but most of the work was completed a few years ago” (Depalma, 2004). To clean up the site, NYSDEC installed a system to collect leachate from the Site. As a result of Love Canal’s cleanup, the site no longer presents a threat to anyone’s health or the environment. The EPA removed the Love Canal site from the Superfund program in September 2004. Since Love Canal, Lois Gibbs has traveled all over the country in hopes to help people solve toxic waste problems in their area. “Gibbs founded the Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ) (formerly the Citizens Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste - CCHW) which provides direct assistance to citizens faced with environmental problems”(Gibbs, 2008). What used to be part of Love Canal now makes up a neighborhood known as Black Creek Village. Most of the Canal still remains sectioned off by a chain-link fence.
The negatives that citizens of Love Canal developed from disaster is that people suffered with many illnesses. The positives that formed from this traumatic event is the creation and funding for Superfund to help prevent and clean up toxic waste all over the country. With the occurrence of the Love Canal catastrophe, the families who resided in those areas were able to see that the voice one person can make a difference, just as Lois Gibbs did
A few days later, president Jimmy Carter declared a state of emergency and the state purchased and relocated 239 homes that were within the first two blocks closest to the canal, leaving the rest of the community to reside in Love Canal. The state believed that other homes that were not in the 10-foot fence were unaffected by the contaminants of the canal. The remaining families were furious. All families and children were being affected by the toxic chemicals regardless of their proximity to the 10-foot fence. The families who lived at Love Canal were all middle-class working families, meaning that they could not just pack their belongings and move because they did not have much money. The community began to express their frustration and concerns through constant protests. As a result of their persistence, the state was compelled to address the community’s concerns. In order to accommodate the needs of the residents, the state offered concessions of $200,000 from the Human Services Fund that would be used to pay the medical expenses of the residents. However, despite their efforts the residents of Love Canal rejected the concessions. The residents desperately needed to be relocated like first 239 …show more content…
The cleanup at the toxic waste site, the nation's most notorious, took 21 years and cost close to $400 million, but most of the work was completed a few years ago” (Depalma, 2004). To clean up the site, NYSDEC installed a system to collect leachate from the Site. As a result of Love Canal’s cleanup, the site no longer presents a threat to anyone’s health or the environment. The EPA removed the Love Canal site from the Superfund program in September 2004. Since Love Canal, Lois Gibbs has traveled all over the country in hopes to help people solve toxic waste problems in their area. “Gibbs founded the Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ) (formerly the Citizens Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste - CCHW) which provides direct assistance to citizens faced with environmental problems”(Gibbs, 2008). What used to be part of Love Canal now makes up a neighborhood known as Black Creek Village. Most of the Canal still remains sectioned off by a chain-link fence.
The negatives that citizens of Love Canal developed from disaster is that people suffered with many illnesses. The positives that formed from this traumatic event is the creation and funding for Superfund to help prevent and clean up toxic waste all over the country. With the occurrence of the Love Canal catastrophe, the families who resided in those areas were able to see that the voice one person can make a difference, just as Lois Gibbs did