Essay Example on Love Canal: NY's Environmental Disaster Epicenter

Introduction

Love Canal is a town in the suburbs of Niagara Falls, in the State of New York. The town has been a center of attraction for many in the contemporary World as it was mentioned a massive environmental pollution epicenter. The environmental disaster in this location of seventy acres in size led to the loss of lives by the neighboring residents due to the toxicity of the chemicals that were dumped in the location (Kleiman, 2017). Previously, the location was for the establishment of the project of a planned community. However, the project was unsuccessful making the canal a dump site that was used for incorporation of municipal refuse back in the 1920s. In light of this, the paper focuses on discussing the love canal in terms of who was responsible, the state government intervention to the disaster, and how the tragedy shaped environmental laws.

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Organizations Responsible for the Tragedy

Love Canal was a beautiful city that was destroyed by the Hooker Chemical Company and the Niagara Falls city. As mentioned earlier, the Love Canal was envisioned for a project that was, meant to benefit the people of Niagara Falls. William Love was very much looking forward to raising the standards of living of the Love Canal people by the provision of electric power that was to be inexpensive (Leonard, 2017). The project was meant to provide electric power to the people of Niagara. However, the project was not realized due to several reasons. Firstly, the lack of resources did make the project to sabotage and also depression, on the side of William Love. As a result of the failure of the project, the Niagara City turned the canal into a dumping site for municipal refuse. The Niagara State is, therefore, one of the groups of people responsible for the Love Canal Tragedy. World war two refuse was dumped in the area that included failed nuclear weapons remains. After the place started receiving nation-wide attention due to the amount of refuse that was dumped in the area, and which was becoming dangerous to the health of the people.

The State of Niagara sold the place to the Hooker Chemical organization, which is nowadays called Occidental Chemical Organisation (Mah, 2013). The chemical company is the second group that is responsible for the love canal tragedy. The chemical company needed a location that could be used in the dumping of chemicals that were obtained after the manufacturing of dyes, solvents, and perfumes by the company. It is usually assumed that almost twenty-two thousands of short tons' chemical refuse was dumped at this site. The chemicals were dumped at this site without the citizens residing at the suburbs of Niagara State informed. After a while, the chemicals started to affect the citizens, and their health was put at risk. As the population grew in around the area, there was the creation of high need of the construction of a school to accommodate the increasing number of children (Marisa, 2006). Despite the dangers associated with the place, the board of directors of the school agreed to by the land from the Hooker Chemical company at only the price of one dollar. The results of this move were catastrophic to the children that attended the school. Cases of retarded growth, asthma, epilepsy among other complications were observed from the children attending the school. Immediate clearance from this area was necessary, which left so many homeless and unhealthy.

State Government Response

As it has been mentioned earlier, the tragedy received world-wide attention and the President of the United States of America, Jimmy Carter, at the time announced an emergency regarding federal health. The President ordered the immediate reconstruction of the Love Canal site by the Federal Disaster Agency of Assistance and allocated resources in terms of resources to ensure that the completion of the reconstruction of the Love Canal was a success (Tyson, 2007). The Disaster Agency was responsible for the construction of trenches that were meant for taking the wastes materials to sewer systems. Sump pumps of various homesteads were sealed off to ensure that no waste would leak again to the surface of the earth and cause the fervent harm the waste had on citizens.

The government, on the other hand, passed the Liability Act, Compensation and Extensive Environmental Response (CERCLA). The Act is better known as the Superfund Act. CERCLA intervened and introduced heavy taxes on the petroleum and chemical industries which were efficient in reducing the amount of waste that these types of organizations were disposing into the environment (Cha, 2012). A National priorities list was established which contain the list of sites that required intervention and cleaning to ensure that the health of the residents of the United States of America is protected rather than being jeopardized. Hooker Chemical Organisation was held responsible for this tragedy despite the following of laws in the disposition of the chemical by-products. However, in the year 2004, the site was cleaned and declared fit for stay once again.

Impact of Tragedy on Environmental Laws/Codes

As a result of this disaster that saw the evacuation of a significant number of people from their residential areas, several changes were made in the environmental conduct laws. For example, on the law of chemical disposal, creek sediments and thermal treatment of sewers was made a necessity. This law is crucial as it helps in the detoxification of chemicals before they are dumped into canals that turn out to be dangerous to the health of the nearby residents. For instance, the government made it a requirement for every chemical industry to build a decontaminating facility that would be able to decontaminate the chemicals that the company produces as by-products, to be less harmful to the surrounding environment (Bosela & Hung, 2007). These remedies to the environmental code are excruciatingly important, and they are meant in maintaining the health of people residing in areas where industrial activities are intense, and where major chemical pollution is occurring.

The second change in environmental code that occurred as a result of the tragedy was sewers, berms and creeks laws (Brummer & Fessenden-Raden, 2005). This is a change that was necessary for the maintenance of the sewers cleanliness and safety. This environmental law change saw the application of hydraulic systems that are very paramount in the cleaning of sewers, preventing contaminations. The code also introduced the concept of inspection of the disposed of wastes from any manufacturing industries. The organization producing them would be held accountable for environmental pollution in case of lack of treatment of their refuse before discharging it to the environment. All these changes were meant in the reduction of the impact that environmental pollution would have on people and to minimize the chance of such a tragedy ever happening again.

To ensure that the tragedy does not occur again, people should also be accountable. For instance, people should be trained to acquire relevant expertise in waste management (McNamara, 2015). The training is necessary as it will make individuals be able to do waste assessments and propose strategies by themselves that would be able to solve environmental tragedies before leading to the demise of the greater population. People need to be more serious and respect the environment, which supports life.

Conclusion

It is indeed true that the love canal tragedy was a turning point in environmental disaster management. The tragedy was catastrophic and led to the perishing of many children and people surrounding the Love Canal site. Environment management should be upheld since the environment is a major participant in the survival of any living organisms. As such, care needs to be taken, and wastes need to be properly disposed to ensure that the environment is kept safe and clean. The Government and the federal system is crucial in ensuring that environmental degradation is abolished altogether. In this case, the government established the Superfund Act, which is an Act that was responsible in allocating the environmental agencies resources required in the treatment of the chemical wastes found in the Love Canal, to make the place safe again for a living. The changes that were made in the environmental codes and laws are necessary for ensuring that such a tragedy will never be experienced again in the United States. Organizations should be held liable for the refuse they are discharging to the environment, and they should treat the refuse before disposing of it. The latter reduces the impact the chemical would have on the environment.

References

Bosela, P. A., & Hung, Y.-T. (2007). Love Canal Tragedy. Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 313-319: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=Bosela%2C+P.+A.%2C+%26+Hung%2C+Y.-T.+%282007%29.+Love+Canal+Tragedy.+Journal+of+Civil+and+Environmental+Engineering%2C+313-319.

Brummer, J., & Fessenden-Raden, J. (2005). Love Canal and the Ethics of Environmental Health [with Commentary]. Business & Professional Ethics Journal, 1-25: https://www.jstor.org/stable/27799804

Cha, J. M. (2012, August). 34 Years Later, Did We Learn Anything from Love Canal? Retrieved from Demos: https://www.demos.org/blog/34-years-later-did-we-learn-anything-love-canal

Kleiman, J. (2017, June). Love Canal: A Brief History. Retrieved from Geneseo: https://www.geneseo.edu/history/love_canal_history

Leonard, M. (2017, January). Learning from Love Canal: Who is Accountable? Retrieved from University of Minnesota: https://cla.umn.edu/history/news-events/story/learning-love-canal-who-accountable

Mah, A. (2013, August). Lessons from Love Canal: toxic expertise and environmental justice. Retrieved from Open Democracy: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/lessons-from-love-canal-toxic-expertise-and-environmental-justice/

Marisa, B. (2006, October). The Tragedy of the Love Canal. EPA Journal, 7: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=Marisa%2C+B.+%282006%2C+October%29.+The+Tragedy+of+the+Love+Canal.+EPA+Journal%2C+7.

McNamara, J. (2015). The Love Canal Hazardous-Waste Disaster. Retrieved from Gilder Lehrman: https://www.gilderlehrman.org/content/love-canal-hazardous-waste-disaster

Tyson, R. (2007). The Intergovernmental Cleanup at Love Canal: A First Crack at "The Sleeping Giant of the Decade." The State of American Federalism, 101-109: https://www.jstor.org/stable/i366474