Returning to Love Canal after Forty Years

Niagara Falls, NY

Millions of tourists from around the world visit Niagara Falls every year. Many of them have a romantic image of a place that was once called, “the honeymoon capital of the world.” They are often surprised to see their affordable hotel is in an old industrial city that doesn’t quite fit the image. If they were to explore the rust belt city of Niagara Falls further and start talking to residents, sooner or later they’re bound to hear about Love Canal. 

William Love

The Love Canal story starts in the 1890’s. That’s when an entrepreneur named William T. Love started a project to build a canal connecting Niagara River to Bergholtz Creek in the city of Niagara Falls. Love’s vision was an industrial park powered by hydroelectricity from his canal.  

Love ran out of money part way through and had to abandon the project, leaving behind a large hole in the ground that carried his name. When it was filled with water from rain and snow, kids used the “canal” as a pond to swim in. However, Love Canal was destined for other uses.

Hooker Chemical Company

Love Canal became a municipal and industrial landfill in the 1920’s. Then in 1942, Hooker Chemical purchased the site due to its proximity to their large Niagara Falls chemical plant. Hooker dedicated Love Canal to hazardous waste disposal.  

Hooker was one of the pioneers of the diaphragm cell chloralkali technology. The company’s main products included VCM, PVC, and a portfolio of chlorinated hydrocarbons used as solvents (e.g. trichlorethylene), pesticide intermediates (e.g. trichlorophenol), and refrigerants (e.g. methylene chloride). By the time the Love Canal landfill reached capacity in 1952, it contained 21,800 tons of hazardous waste including 13 million lbs lindane, 4 million lbs chlorobenzenes, and about half million lbs of trichlorophenol. The manufacture of this latter compound is associated with formation of the extremely toxic tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) byproduct. Love Canal is believed to contain 130 lbs of TCDD.

It should be pointed out that Hooker was following that period’s standard industrial practice in the way it disposed of hazardous material. These chlorinated hydrocarbons do not biodegrade and do not burn easily. The type of incinerator technology that is recommended for their safe and effective destruction was not available yet. Good manufacturing practice at the time was to line a bathtub-shaped landfill with clay (to prevent liquid flow in or out), place drums of hazardous waste inside, and cap it off with clay when full.  

Hooker sold the clay capped canal to the Niagara Falls School Board for $1 in 1953 with the stipulation that no digging would be allowed. The understanding was that the land would be left undisturbed for use as a park. 

The Neighborhood

One year after its purchase from Hooker Chemical, an elementary school was built on the perimeter of the canal with its playground directly on top of the landfill. This attracted real estate development and in a few years hundreds of families were living in the Love Canal neighborhood. Most of them had no idea that they were living by a toxic waste burial site.

The construction activities in Love Canal seem to have compromised the integrity of the landfill’s clay containment. Rain water could now enter and corrode the drums, and carry leachate along underground stream beds. A horror scene was about to begin.  

Loss of Containment

In the spring of 1976, as one of the heaviest snow falls in the city’s history melted away, Love Canal residents noticed an unusually persistent and noxious odor take over their neighborhood. Many residents saw a black oily substance enter their homes through basement drain holes. Some of them purchased sump pumps to transfer the oily gook out of their homes and into city sewers. They were soon threatened with fines by the city if they continued. The city knew what the substance was and did not want it to contaminate the sewer system.

The situation in Love Canal was first publicized through a series of articles in Niagara Gazette newspaper starting in October 1976. An investigative reporter there even had samples analyzed, confirming the presence of toxic compounds. 

With the health risks recognized, the elementary school was ordered shut in 1978. The Love Canal area including the first two rows of houses closest to the leaking landfill were then sealed off with a chain link fence, and the residents there evacuated as part of a federal emergency declaration. It was the first time such a declaration was used for something other than a natural disaster.

As far as the remaining Love Canal residents were concerned, the crisis was not over. They considered the emergency declaration zone arbitrary and remained concerned about their health. During the 1976-1980 period, nine out of the sixteen babies born there had some type of a birth defect.

Since no one wanted to buy their contaminated houses, Love Canal residents could not afford to move. Led by a group of housewives, they organized and made their case all the way to the White House.

Finally, in August of 1980, a second presidential emergency declaration allowed permanent relocation of the remaining residents at the federal government’s expense. A total of 900 families left Love Canal.

Remediation

Given the large volume of toxic chemicals buried, removal was never considered a viable option. The contaminated homes within the first disaster declaration zone were demolished. There are accounts of airborne dust from the debris killing trees in the area due to toxins in the dust. The landfill itself was completely upgraded with a so-called Barrier Protection System comprising the following features. 

1. New drainage system to prevent water entry from the sides and below (e.g. rising water table)
2. A new 3-foot clay layer on top, protected by a plastic sheet, to keep rainwater out
3. An 18-foot layer of topsoil above the plastic sheet
4. An activated carbon bed system to treat all drain water before discharge
5. Multiple monitoring wells (100 total) around the site

The management of the site would be handled by Glenn Springs Holding (a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum who bought Hooker Chemical in 1968). GSH continues to issue annual reports about Love Canal’s status. EPA reviews their reports and conducts independent checks once every 5 years.

EPA has declared that the areas on the eastern side of Love Canal (outside the fence line) are not safe for habitation. However, disaster declaration areas on the northern and western side are no longer deemed contaminated. New residents have moved into those houses.  

Superfund

Love Canal gave birth to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, administered by the EPA. Known as “Superfund,” the program is a trust fund paid by industry and government to clean up the worst contaminated sites around the country (the so-called National Priorities List). Love Canal was delisted from NPL in 2004.

The EPA website has a list of Superfund success stories. These include dozens of sites from around the country that were once highly contaminated with toxic industrial wastes, but are now clean and restored. People can safely live nearby, and feel comfortable fishing or camping there. The suffering of the Love Canal residents was not in vain.    

 Essay and comic strip by Ramin Abhari, MSChE, PE