Period+6+-+Love+Canal

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 * Love Canal

Love Canal is a neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York, United States of America which became a subject of attention following the discovery of 21,000 tons of toxic waste buried beneath the neighborhood. It officially covers 36 square blocks in the far southeastern corner of the city. The Niagara Falls School Board chose to construct a school on a known retired toxic waste dump, and the City of Niagara Falls permitted the building of homes and rental units on this property. The development released the chemical waste, leading to a public health emergency and an urban planning scandal.

In 1896 William Love began construction on a canal connecting Lake Ontario and Lake Erie that bypassed Niagara Falls to be used to generate hydroelectric power. It was never completed and in the 1920's became a landfill for the city of Niagara Falls. Eventually, the U.S. military started dumping chemical warfare waste including some from the Manhattan Project. However, it was in 1942 that the main destruction occured. Hooker Chemical Company began dumping its toxic waste into the canal. After eleven years of dumping waste into the canal Hooker halted the dumping. In 1953 the company was approached by the city to "donate" the land on Love Canal for a new school. Hooker was obviously reluctant to do so over the dangers of building a school on a toxic waste dump. Nonetheless, the school board simply threatened to take it over. Hooker even took the school board on a tour of the property warning them of the dangers. But in the end Hooker was pressured into selling the land to the city for $1.


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