Niagra Falls Love Canal

The first part of Toms River by Dan Fagin goes into detail about the history of the chemical industry in New Jersey with the Ciba plant producing dyes and epoxy and their methods of disposing of waste and what effect that had on surrounding individual’s health. There were many groups of people who were exposed to the toxic chemicals produced in the waste products of dyes and epoxy from the Ciba plant. People who were working the factory typically had peak exposure because they were required to scrape and dispose of the waste chemicals daily. Residents of a neighborhood downstream the factory who typically had personal wells and were not customers of Toms River Water avoided the chemically traced water directly from the river for some time,

The W.R. Grace Company, Riley Eannery, and Unifirst Corporation were prominent factories in Wobourn. Jan speculated they were to have illegally dumped a dangerous carcinogen known as TCE into the ground, sewer, and water systems of the Woborn community. These poisons were thought by Jan, and the community, to have polluted two water wells that acted as a water supply for the community. Many of the people who worked at the factories experienced many medical problems such as cancer and died at young ages. Community members experienced numerous medial problems such as flu-like symptoms, memory loss, cancers, leukemia, burning eyes, and skin, and death. The water over the years was said to have gone from natural, to smelling, to dark and dangerous.

toxic waste began. The toxic footprint of the Hanford site is enormous, in absolute and relative terms: 43

In Mantua Township, Gloucester County, New Jersey, privately owned land once stood as one of the most hazardous waste sites in the United States. This site known as the Helen Kramer Landfill included 66-acres of waste, 11 acres of unfavorably conditioned vegetation, and no onsite residents. Prior to the early 1960’s, Helen Keller landfill was a sand and gravel excavation operation, but soon began to incorporate the disposal of waste material for about a decade. After the landfill received numerous inspections and notices between 1971 and 1977, the owner Helen Kramer was informed to cease operation of the landfill. As New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection reports indicated and area residents stated, “sporadic chemical

Although drinking water is not yet known to have been affected, the groundwater was contaminated with volatile organic compounds and heavy metals (5). Both of these types of contaminants have been linked with one or several of the following: cancer, liver, kidney, and nervous system problems (4). In July 1979, the State Court required that all material be removed from the site by July 1980 (5). The state has spent over $300,000 cleaning this site (5). According to EPA standards, this site is in the "construction completed" stage of clean up. This does not mean, however that actual cleanup is complete because groundwater may need to be treated more than 30 years before contaminants are at accepted levels (5).

DuPont was aware of the harmful effects this chemical had on animals and people but ignored the issue in accordance of high profit. Not only were people affected in the local community, but people in surrounding areas were also affected. Thousands of people and large amounts of property were inflicted with poor air quality and poor drinking water. DuPont had later discovered that there were dust fumes emerging from the factories that were unhealthy for people to inhale, and later found it in the drinking water. DuPont also found an astonishing key of evidence, they had found PFOA in the water, and it was twice the amount of what was allowed, and could cause some serious issues. They had known about the levels and did not notify any workers or anyone in the community due to the fear of loss of profit. Men and women were coming home with a fever, nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting. These workers endured injurious experiences, and were never notified about the condition in which they were working. DuPont was named as not trustworthy, and at times known to practice illegal activity. After going through the experiences of which they just endured, they might go through the process of mental thinking or what they just went through was not right and should not have happened to me. That process is known as

The purpose of the landfill was to bury the large amount of contaminated the soil with toxic Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), a class of chemicals so toxic that Congress banned production later. The whole story began in 1973 when Ward PCB Transformers Company dumped more than 30,000 gallons of PCB-contaminated oil on the side of state roads in 14 North Carolina counties. The trucker, who was responsible for taking the oil to a facility to be recycled, disposed of it discreetly and illegally. The person in charge of the company and the trucker was sent to jail for a short time for their negligence on the matter. Contaminants left in the truck and factory was detoxified. However, the area around the factory as well as the lakes and rivers close to the road had been polluted. As a result, more than 60,000 tons of oils were polluted with toxic PCB.

What are the most important elements of survival? Food and water, would you not agree? Imagine living without one of these essentials, life would then become questioned. For the children and residents of Flint, Michigan one of these essential necessities for living has been compromised by natural forces. Yet the individuals who are in charge of caring for this life changing problem have neither acknowledged or made any moves to ensure the survival of the impoverished city and its citizens.

Cleveland and other cities Factories dumped pollutants into the lake and the waterways and fertilizer and pesticides from agricultural runoff without much government oversight. Waste from city

Workers accidentally destroyed the dam holding back the pond, spilling 3,000,000 US gallons (11 ML) of polluted mine waste water and tailings, including heavy metals such as cadmium and lead, and other elements, such as arsenic,[3] into Cement Creek, a tributary of the Animas River in Colorado.[4] The EPA was criticized for not warning Colorado and New Mexico until the day after the waste

In 1995, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a settlement agreement of its Love Canal lawsuit against Occidental Chemical Company on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)25. The agreement included a $3 million fund for follow-up health studies of Love Canal residents and the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) was charged with administering the fund25. New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) was responsible for conducting the follow-up study. This was a big study called Love Canal Follow-up Health Study which consisted of 4 smaller studies focusing on reproductive outcomes, cancer incidence, blood serum investigations, and mortality rates47, 58-60. These four studies used the same study group which were the Love Canal residents (both homeowners and renters). The control groups were those who lived in New York State and/or Niagara Falls County25.

of torriential rain that taxed the city's draingage system and may have broken down some of the

Throughout the mid-19th century, many cities across America were becoming industrialized and growing in size. As a city develops and grows, the city uses resources such as food, water, raw products, and energy. All these resources are consumed within a city. The outcome of all this consumption is the production of waste (Tarr 15). In the mid-19th century, a massive migration of Americans and wave of migrants from different countries in Europe and other parts of the world begin to settle in urban settings across America. Many were seeking better job opportunities and better lives in American cities. As a result, industrial cities grew dramatically and became

By the late 1920’s the canal was being used as a dumpsite by municipal and commercial entities. 82 different chemicals 11 of them known carcinogens had been dumped by the Hooker Chemical Company for over twenty five years. In 1953, the Hooker Chemical Company, then the owners and operators of the property, covered the canal with earth and sold it to the city for one dollar. This was definitely a bad buy for the city of Niagara, unfortunately it would take over 20 years to realize it. During that time more than 100 homes and one elementary school had been built over the landfill, this was definitely not the city that Love had envisioned.

The Love Canal was built in 1894, by William T. Love, to connect the Niagara River to Lake Ontario and also to provide water and hydroelectric power for the city of Niagara Falls. Eighty-Four Years later, Love gave up and put his unfinished, 16-acre canal for auction. The Hooker Chemicals Corporation bought the site after determining it was isolated and barely populated at the time. They decided that since it had a leakproof clay groundwork, it would make a good location for a hazardous waste landfill. Since then, approximately 21,800 tons of harmful wastes were dumped by Hooker until 1952. In 1953, the company capped the canal, and sold the site for one dollar, to the Niagara Falls Board of Education. Houses and schools were built on top and