Superfund Home Environmental Case Study

After researching Superfunds, I found that dangers to the environment are much closer to home then one may think. In fact, I found that, in Ohio, Butler County was in the second highest risk category for contamination by Superfunds. Butler County is home to three superfunds: the Chem Dyne Corporation, the Skinner Landfill, and the

One of these sites is Commencement Bay, the hub of the Port of Tacoma, one of the world’s busiest ports. The biggest polluter in the area is the Simpson Tacoma Kraft Company, a forest product company that prides itself on using “every part of the tree except its shadow.” (Simpson, 2014) Another well-known polluter and also a major area employer is the US Military. Superfund Sites exist at both McChord AFB and the US Army Fort Lewis Range. (Good Guide, 2011)

The paper provides vital information on the implementation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and how the act has served as the hallmark for hazardous waste management in the United States. Created in the late 1970s, the RCRA has provided generators of hazardous with policy guidelines and how these processes are implemented to protect public health. As an article review, this paper will address the implementation and the challenges associated with the RCRA and how the Act continues to experienced tremendous changes since its foundation. The paper will also examine the RCRA contingency plan that seeks to address and minimize public health hazards in the environment.

I searched high and low to find a social situation that is important not only to my family but to my community. Areas like politics, and religion are a large aspect of my family but I decided to go in a different direction and speak on behalf of the environmental issues that plague my community, but one federal program in particular; the superfund program. In this essay I will present

What designates a site a Superfund site? A superfund site is a hazardous location that requires long-term response to clean up

The end result that Burch is fighting for is that these farms need to be regulated under the Superfund law. The Superfund law is a United States federal government program designed to fund the cleanup of sites contaminated with hazardous substances and pollutants (Superfund, 2016, n.d.). This law is there to regulate the disposal of hazardous material as well as an emergency team that cleans up spills that will affect the environment.

This movement is centered around two issues which are the, “siting and expansion of hazardous and undesirable facilities in poor and minority communities and the effort to remediate, relocate, and/or pay damages to members of poor and minority communities affected by pollution.” (Allen 2007).

Lois Gibbs and the other homeowners at Love Canal had no idea that their neighborhood was built on a chemical dump. So for this question I went to the EPA website and looked up three different superfund sites closest to me. My findings were actually shocking. There were four to five different super fund sites near where I live and most of them were in Newark. I did not realize that they were only two towns away. Before this assignment I had no idea about these superfund sites. I did know that Passaic river is a dirty river because Newark was an industrial hub before.

After the defeat with the sole use of the popular epidemiology technique, Lois Gibbs and the Homeowners Association decided to take a different approach when confronting the state. The Association elaborated that the toxic chemicals were “an attack on the nuclear family, as the toxic contamination threatened reproduction and homes” (Hay, “Everyone's Backyard: The Love Canal Chemical Disaster”). They showed that the chemicals were affecting the way the household should run, by hindering the reproduction process, and that the families who have not relocated should, in order to preserve the “[way of life]”. As the past attempts have failed, this effort too failed to get all community members relocated (Hay, “Everyone's Backyard: The Love Canal

The Love Canal disaster which resulted in a myriad of genetic mutations in upstate New York from 1979-1981 prompted civilian unrest and protests nationwide. Prior to public awareness of the environmental and health hazards occurring across the United States, radioactive waste was nonchalantly dealt with as medical conditions were unknown to public knowledge. In 1979, after residents of Love Canal unified and discussed the medical conditions that plagued their children and newborns, outcry began to spring as residents demanded governmental answers, response, and action. Prominent leaders among civilians became immortalized as the first environmental reformers in western society, specifically Lois Gibbs, who led numerous

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.

This can be shown in areas that are considered fenceline communities. These are communities that are located directly in the midst of toxic pollution. Residents who live in these communities often accept their conditions of their surroundings and wait for disasters to happen. These disasters include chemical spills or toxic contamination that can demolish their communities at some point. These individuals are also put at a higher risk for possible terrorist attacks. Moreover, residents who live nearby also suffer by having their wealth stolen through lowered property values. To show example, in 1992 the National Law Journal found discrepancies in the way the Environmental Protection Agency enforced its Superfund laws (Bullard & Wright 2012). In the same year Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality signed off on permits allowing Genesee Power Station to build an eighty million dollar incinerator for construction use. This incinerator was built beside a predominately black low income neighborhood (Burke 2017). The residents were forced to be exposed to particulate matter, carbon monoxide, lead, and acidic gases. Being within walking distance from a chemical site would eventually begin to affect their quality of life and health (National Research Council). If disasters are to take place they are often blamed on natural occurrences. This concept tends to be pushed by corporations who do not want to own up to

The current issue in Georgia, is knowing that there are several example of hazardous wastes being used, not in the ponds or lakes, but in households. For example, batteries, pesticides, and even nail polish. All of those household items contain ingredients which are potentially hazardous, which have been recently killing people.

In the 1920’s, the city bought the land at public auction, which became the municipal and chemical disposal site. (Beck) The city of Niagara Falls and The United States also participated in dumping garbage, military warfare material, and Manhattan Project. This was a disposal site for more than twenty years, until Hooker Chemical Company purchased the site for their chemical disposal. (Beck) In 1953, the Hooker Chemical Company filled the canal with twenty-two thousand tons of waste in barrels, which leaked, broke apart when being dump, and poured into the soil. (Gibbs) In addition, to avoid contaminants leaked to the top layer soil they would cover them up with cinders, ash, clay or loom to decrease the spill. (Gibbs)

I searched high and low to find a social situation that is important not only to my family but to my community. Areas like politics, and religion are a large aspect of my family but I decided to go in a different direction and speak on behalf of the environmental issues that plague my community, but one federal program in particular; the superfund program. In this essay I will present