Love Canal

Love Canal

Kids protest the toxic Love Canal.

In the late 1970's it was revealed that Hooker Chemical Company had been using Love Canal in Niagara Falls, NY to bury 22,000 tons of toxic waste. The site was sold by Hooker for residential construction, but after a while, heavy rains released the toxic chemical waste into the newly built residential communities, causing a public health emergency that largely led to the creation of huge legislation: CERCLA (see timeline, 1980). As the New York State Health Department Commissioner stated years later, Love Canal will be remembered as a "national symbol of failure to exercise a sense of concern for future generations."