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Chapter 17

Chapter 17. Love Canal Case Study. Core Case Study: Love Canal — There Is No “Away”. Between 1842-1953, Hooker Chemical & Plastics sealed 200 different chemical wastes into steel drums and dumped them into an old canal excavation (Love Canal near Niagara Falls, NY).

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Chapter 17

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  1. Chapter 17 Love Canal Case Study

  2. Core Case Study: Love Canal — There Is No “Away” • Between 1842-1953, Hooker Chemical & Plastics sealed 200 different chemical wastes into steel drums and dumped them into an old canal excavation (Love Canal near Niagara Falls, NY). • In 1953, the canal was filled by covering it with clay and topsoil, and sold to Niagara Falls school board for $1. • The company inserted a disclaimer denying legal liability for any injury caused by the wastes.

  3. Core Case Study: Love Canal — There Is No “Away” • In 1957, Hooker Chemical warned the school not to disturb the site’s clay cap because of the buried toxic waste. • In 1959 an elementary school, playing fields and 949 homes were built disrupting the clay cap covering the wastes and blocking groundwater. • This caused buildup of contaminated water. • In 1960’s, an expressway was also built at one end of the dump. • In 1976, residents complained of chemical smells from the site and chemical burns their children received playing in the canal area.

  4. Core Case Study: Love Canal — There Is No “Away” • In 1977, chemicals began leaking from the badly erroded steel drums. • In 1978, the state closed the school and moved 239 families from the site. • In 1980, President Jimmy Carter declared Love Canal a federal disaster area. • The area was abandoned in 1980 (left). Figure 22-1

  5. Love Canal — and The Superfund Law • It still is a controversy as to how much the chemicals at Love Canal injured or caused disease to the residents. • The dumpsite has been covered with a new clay cap and surrounded by a drainage systems for pumping leaking waste to a new treatment plant. • In 1990, the State started reselling the property. • Love Canal sparked creation of the Superfund law, which forced polluters to pay for cleaning up abandoned toxic waste dumps. • March, 2004 (21 years later) and $400 million in clean up costs, Love Canal was removed from the Superfund priority list.

  6. Superfund Sites • EPA estimates 36,000 seriously contaminated sites in the US. • By 2000, 1,551 sites had been placed on the National Priority List for cleanup with with Superfund financing. • Superfund is a revolving pool designed to: • Provide immediate response to emergency situations posing imminent hazards. • Clean-up abandoned or inactive sites.

  7. Superfund Sites • Total costs for hazardous waste cleanup in the US are estimated between $370 billion and $1.7 trillion. • For years, most of the funding has gone to legal fees, but this situation has improved over past several years. • Studies of Superfund sites reveal minorities tend to be over-represented in these neighborhoods.

  8. Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (Superfund Act) • Government does not have to prove anyone violated a law, or what role they played in a superfund site. • Liability under CERCLA is “strict, joint, and several”, meaning anyone associated with a site can be held responsible for the entire clean-up cost.

  9. Federal Legislation • Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA). • Modified in 1984 by Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act. • Aimed at rapid containment, cleanup, or remediation of abandoned toxic waste sites. • Toxic Release Inventory - Requires 20,000 manufacturing facilities to report annually on releases of more than 300 toxic materials.

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