Eckardt C. Beck, the administrator of EPA Region 2 from 1977 to 1979, offered this incredibly forthright account of the sustained campaign to force the cleanup of the New York State contaminated Love Canal: Quite simply, Love Canal is one of the most appalling environmental tragedies in American history. But that’s not the most disturbing fact.
What is worse is that it cannot be regarded as an isolated event. It could happen again—anywhere in this country—unless we move expeditiously to prevent it. It is a cruel irony that Love Canal was originally meant to be a dream community .
.. In the 1920s the seeds of a genuine nightmare were planted.
The canal was turned into a municipal and industrial chemical dumpsite. (Emphasis added.) Over the course of 30 years, the Hooker Chemical Company dumped 82 different chemicals in the canal, including 11 suspected carcinogens.
Then Hooker covered up the land and sold it to the local school district for $1. Wikipedia notes : [T]he School Board began construction of the 99th Street School ..
. In January 1954, the school’s architect wrote to the education committee informing them that during excavation, workers discovered two dump sites ..
. containing chemical wastes ..
. Upon completion in 1955, 400 children attended the school ..
. That same year, a twenty-five-foot (7.6 m) area crumbled exposing toxic chemical drums, which then filled with water during rainstorms.
This created large puddles that children enjoyed playing in ...
Much l.
