Toxic waste and the superfund act of 1980 Love Canal is one of the most infamous toxic waste disaster in history. The Love Canal site began its life as a project linking “the upper and lower Niagara Rivers” in western New York, in order to provide power to the homes and industry that William T. Love intended to build (Beck, 1979, para. 5). In 1910 William T. Love Rn out of funding for this project, and the land was subsequently sold to Hooker Chemical Company. The Hooker Chemical Company purchased this land for the specific reason of dumping their toxic waste. At one-time process of dumping toxic waste directly into the ground was legal, as long as it was your land. However, we did not understand the future problems it would cause. Around …show more content…
The school board agreed and Hooker Chemical Company sold the land for one dollar. This marked the beginning of what would be considered one of the worst environment disaster in history. Health problems arouse in the residents that lived on this land, due to ruptured canisters that leached into the water supply. Love Canal was very close to Lake Erie. This meant that the water table was close to the surface. During heavy rains, the water table would rise, thus pushing the toxic waste to the surface. This resulted in the toxic water leaching into basements, evaporating and releasing toxic gases and contaminating the soil. In some cases, the toxic water would rise to the surface and there would be puddles of toxic waste. The results of this exposure were a high amount of illnesses and medical issues. The rate of miscarriages and birth defects increased and there was an apparent Cancer clusters. A cancer cluster is an area where there is a significantly higher level of cancer diagnoses in one residential area. After multiple complaints from the residents of Love Canal, a study was preformed and it was determined that the area was not safe to inhabit. This lead to then president, Jimmy Carter to promise funding that would allow all affected residents to move and …show more content…
It is located at 153 N. Cottonwood St. The “Griggs and Walnut Ground Water Plume is considered one of the worst hazardous waste sites identified by the EPA” (homefacts, para.1). Between 1993 and 1995 it was discovered that traces of Perchloroethylene (PCE) were detected in the drinking water. PCE is a manmade substance, generally used as a degreaser. The city of Las Cruces took immediate action and the wells were taken off-line. After an investigation it was determined that the plume was 2500 ft. wide and 4000 ft. long. The site was declared a superfund and a treatment facility was constructed to clean the water. The facility began operation in 2012 some 17 years after its discovery. You might ask, why did it take so long for the treatment of the water to begin. It is because the US Government is the sole financier for these sites and therefore, the money is not always readily
Saukko , Linnea.“How to Poison the Earth.”The Brief Bedford Reader. Bedford/St.Martin’s Boston: 9th edition ,2006.246-247.
The water crisis in Flint Michigan began as early as was as April of 2014. The crisis is concerning a small town called Flint, located at the bottom right of michigan were the majority of the population is African American. The issue began when the town 's water supply witch in past use to come from the detroit river water supply was switched over to the Flint river water supply. People soon began to complain about the taste, smell, and color of the tap water, and of symptoms such as hair loss and rashes from bathing in the water. Even though there were many signs that the water was indeed contaminated, such as when a General Motors plant in Flint stopped using municipal water in October of 2014, claiming that it corroded car parts, the government officials stated that the water was not a threat to the public 's health and safety. However it was later revealed that the water was in fact unhealthy, and contained too much lead. The issue was brought to the eyes of the public when Lee Anne Walters, a Flint resident. This mother of four had seen her family suffer from various alarming symptoms, including abdominal pains, hair loss, and rashes; she also has a son who showed signs of developmental problems. She decided to switch her family to bottled water, and the symptoms abated. Finally, in February of 2015, she demanded that the city test the tap water. A federal investigation was launched and the results came back shocking. The water was extremely toxic containing 400 parts per billion of lead. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), there is no safe level of lead in drinking water, but the maximum allowed by law is 15 parts per billion. Virginia Tech professor and engineer Marc Edwards, an expert on municipal w...
Nathan Rosillo, a key product developer at Chem-Tech Corporation finds himself in the middle of an exceedingly complex ethical dilemma (Pg. 156). He is the moral agent (Pg. 156) of the company who needs to decide if he wants to protect his beloved Dutch Valley River from the waste materials that can be dumped into it after the loosened requirements of the regulatory agencies. The new lubricant product developed by Nathan and his team is seen by his company supervisor and plant manager as key to reviving the financial fortunes of a cash strapped Chem-Tech. The cost savings arising from less need to reduce and recycle the waste from the new product seem to resonate well with the management’s profit-maximizing view (Pg. 167), and also allow them to stay in compliance with the loosened environmental standards. Nathan has the following 3 choices:
The Charles River, always known as “having a healthy reputation for its extreme filth,” has a new lease on life ever since former governor Bill Weld took the dive heard round the world fully clothed around the same time the EPA announced a “Clean Charles” ready for swimmers by Earth Day 2005. Reactions concerning the river’s quality since Welds famous 1996 plunge have ranged from skepticism to complete dismissal of the cleanup promises, proving only that indeed, he “loved that dirty water.”
Dixon, Will. "Will Dixon's ECO 108 Site: Critical Analysis: The Case for Contamination." Will Dixon's ECO 108 Site: Critical Analysis: The Case for Contamination. Class Summary, Oct. 2010. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
Because of this problems such as, sewage, factory waste, and other wastes over flowed the river, and badly polluted the river. Unfortunately the river was connected to Lake Michigan, the source of water for Chicago residents, drinking water became polluted and disease spread rapidly thought the city. Within months, waterborne diseases such as cholera and typhoid killed more than 3000 people per year. In 1836 construction began on the Illinois and Michigan Canal. Unfortunately money was scarce and Canal commissioners had to construct a cheaper and more shallow canal where pumps were used to fill the canal.
In Chicago’s early days of rising to become a major US city, its population exploded, causing the city to modernize quickly and businesses to cut corners to keep their edge. The river soon became the dumping ground for both sewage and toxic waste dumped by the slaughter houses. By demand of citizens, a canal was built “which later would be named the Illinois and Michigan (I&M) Canal (Hansen, pg. 41). The proposed canal “called for an excavation that woul...
Love Canal was a small town in Niagara Falls, New York, located between two bodies of water: the Bergholtz Creek to the North and the Niagara River to the South. Seems innocent enough right? Wrong. This town was built on top of 21,000 tons of toxic waste (Verhovek). In the early 1890’s, William T. Love wanted to build a canal which would connect the Niagara River to Lake Ontario to generate hydroelectric power for his would be city. However, due to a severe drop in investors and laws passed by Congress, he was not able to bring his idea to life. By the time his funds were completely depleted in 1910, he had dug one mile of the canal, about 50 feet wide, and 10 to 40 feet deep and he had constructed a few streets and homes (Blum). In the 1920’s, the giant hole was used as a dumpsite for the nearby city of Niagara Falls, which lead the way into one of the most appalling environmental tragedies in American history (Beck). A small handful of people who decided they would not leave are all that remains of the town today; 90% of the buildings were demolished or boarded up (Verhovek).
People in the northern United States during the early nineteenth century wanted to rapidly industrialize and increase the amount of money they were making. The Erie Canal they believed was a great way to reduce the distance and time of shipping goods to the west. They also realized that the canal would probably increase their markets, which would mean a larger profit. The problem with all of this was how people had to destroy parts of nature in order for this to happen. Nathaniel Hawthorne, a prominent writer during the time, described the canal as “too rapid, unthinking advance of progress.” (57) Hawthorne and his supporters were very upset to see how forests and swamps were being destroyed and ruined in order t...
In 1979, the situation at a town called Love Canal was declared a state of emergency. How did such an isolated place in New York become a national devastation? In the 1890s, William T. Love started a project of digging a canal from Niagara River to Lake Ontario, but the canal was never completed. Hooker Chemical Company bought it, and used the land as a landfill for their chemical waste. They later sold it to the Niagara Falls School District, which was looking for more land to build an elementary school, but only after 21,000 tons of harmful chemicals were dumped and buried under a clay cap. They built many homes near the dump, and broke the clay cap. Soon, the people living near the canal started to complain about strange diseases, miscarriages, and residue seeping into their basements. A local resident, Lois Gibbs, started the Love Canal's Homeowners Association and led rallies to persuade the government to inspect their area. Soon, Love Canal started gaining national attention and in 1978, Love Canal was named a state of emergency. The residents were soon told to
Then the documentary tackles Puget Sound. The Duwamish River is the largest hot spot in the nation. In 2001, the Duwamish River was classified as a “Super Fund” site. This is given to a site that will receive federal assistance for clean up. But yet, it may be too late. Puget Sound in contaminated with PCP, lead and mercury. The threat comes from the giant industrial polluters of old and from chemicals in consumers’ face creams, deodorants, prescription medicines and household cleaners that find their way into sewers, storm drains, eventually into America’s waterways and drinking water.
Superfund sites are abandoned hazardous waste areas, designated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as posing a high risk to human and ecological health. The Portland Harbor Superfund site is a group of 60 former industrial sites located along the lower Willamette River in Portland, Oregon. In the early 1900s, before environmental health was a public concern, sewage and industrial waste were dumped directly into the Willamette River. By the time waste control systems were introduced in the 1950s, legacy pollutants had already left a mark on the riverbank and sediment of the lower Willamette (LWG, 2011). In 1997 the EPA and Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) enlisted environmental consulting firm Weston Solutions
Westvaco is a paper mill which produces a great deal airborne waste which can be smelled, and seen anywhere within the city. Sediment from Westvaco airborne waste can be seen on the rooftops of homes throughout town. Further, Westvaco also produced waste that is dumped into the Jackson River. This waste has introduced pentachlorophenol (PCPs) in the Jackson River which turns into the James River which runs throughout Virginia. These PCPs affect the health of fish in the entire river which also has caused the Commonwealth of Virginia to issue a warning on the consumption of fish in the James and Jackson rivers. This externality affects fisherman throughout the commonwealth who are not able to eat the fish they catch in the Jackson and James rivers. Further, this externality affects residents within the city of Covington. Although there is no scientific proof to support this theory but, the airborne chemicals expelled from Westvaco cannot be health to the human body and could have significant side effects in the long
Within a few months of burying the PCBs, the EPA found significant PCB air emissions at the landfill and half a mile away, but citizens would not learn about this until 1998. Residents were upset about how little was being done to resolve the issue. They turned to Ken Ferruccio, who laid out a 5-Point Framework for resolving the PCB landfill crisis and demanded from the Hunt administration: 1) The state continue to monitor and maintain the PCB landfill; 2) A joint citizen/state committee be formed to mutually address the failures of the PCB landfill; 3) The solution to the failed PCB landfill remains on site; 4) Citizens be given independent scientific representation; and 5) Permanent detoxification of the PCB landfill be the ultimate goal (“Birth”). Governor Hunt agreed to the Framework and the joint Warren County/State PCB Landfill Working Group was formed. For the next decade, citizens attempted to hold the Governor to his promise, and pressed the legislature to fund an on-site, permanent cleanup that would not require dumping the waste on another community. Clean-up of the site would start in 2002 after public bids were taken for detoxifying the site by Shaw Environmental and Infrastructure (Bullard). The EPA did tests on the PCB Landfill in January of 2003, and based on the test results, an interim operations permit was granted in March. The soil treatment would be completed by October 2003; and in total, 81,600 tons of soil was treated from the landfill, being burned in a kiln at 9,000⁰F (“Birth”). The soil which was treated was the soil that was initially alongside the roads and the soil adjacent to it that had been in the landfill and had been cross-contaminated. The equipment at the site was decontaminated
In the 1930’s before the Love Canal area was turned into neighborhoods, the Hooker Chemical Company purchased the area and used it as a burial site for 20,000 metric tons of chemicals. In 1953 the Hooker Chemical Company sold the land to the Niagara Falls Board of Education for $1.00. There was a stipulation in the deed, which stated that if anyone incurred physical harm or death because of their buried wastes, they would not be responsible. Shortly after, the land changed hands yet again and this time home building began directly adjacent to the canal. Families who bought homes here were unaware of the waste buried in their backyards.