OT: Love Canal Disaster

[mr86mister]

For many of you in the NF and Buff area you know what I am talking about. Does anyone know of any good articles about this disaster? I am doing a study/research for environmental disasters and figured other than google I would try some local residents, especially because some of you were alive during the time. Thanks Everyone!

 

[mr86mister]

Wow nothing yet? That's surprising. I thought people would jump on this. Anyone remember it?

 

[Fatboy Stinger]

I know that if you go over there now you would never be able to tell what happened. Its a shame too because if you take a boat down the canal, lots of the homes there are really nice (from the back at least), unfortunatly the whole ideal did not help their resale value.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Wow nothing yet? That's surprising. I thought people would jump on this. Anyone remember it?

I live in Rochester and I remember it.

YIKES!

tmz MUST remember this. Ask him!

 

[DEEP BLUE SIX]

Yeah, I clearly remember it in general.
Back in 1978. There's been tons of stories(news specials)
and updates(law suits) on it over the years.

It's close to us all being in NYS.
But personally other than knowing of it,
I never lived in or near the specific area. (Northern Niagara region)
I don't know anyone personally that was affected by it.
Though many people were.

That's going back over 30 years... back to the wild (younger) days for some of us.

 

[shroutk3]

I was in an environmental economics class that talked about love canal, and superfund which resulted. Couple of places to look:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Canal -check the references at the bottom of the page.

also there were several books written in the last couple of years on the topic. I'd check those out- library would be a good place to go for those.

 

[DEEP BLUE SIX]

Interesting enough,
A similar issue, not as bad as "love Canal" at this point yet but still an EPA related problem locally:

There is a housing complex I believe in Victor NY recently,
that all the earth was found to have been polluted by a company back or before the construction happened.

Last I knew residents have been going back an forth with Victor, the Contractors and the company that polluted for the last few years.

The pollutants in many houses have even been seaping into the basements and they think- getting into the water supply in the area.
People have been getting sick. As well as it being in the news, making resales almost immpossible.

 

[naprestsleep]

I grew up up river from it, and had neighbors that had lived there. Used to drive through that area from time to time when I was younger but dont have a lot of knowledge about it.

 

[TimmyNY]

There was an article I believe in the Buffalo News about a year ago that had a lot of info about Love Canal. It was some an anniversary of some sorts. lots of info anda Timeline. Yopu should be able to search the News site and get a copy of it.

and

I would try some local residents, especially because some of you were alive during the time. !

Just how old do you think we are LOL

 

[aww_419]

There was an article not too long ago in 2009 about it. There are several areas in the Buffalo Niagara region that were polluted. There are streets in tonowanda i beleive along the river that will set off Geiger counters to levels that would shock you. Obviously no Chernobyl but if you live there any level is bad news.

 

[cardiffgiant]

I wasn't in this area when that story broke. I was only a few years old, staying with my dad in NJ when that story broke. I remember my parents being so disgusted that the chemical company let it happen and that the government dragged there feet for so long. They ended up doing a home radon test in our basement shortly after that story.

I also believe that this was the first time that disaster relief funds were used for a man made disaster.

 

[cardiffgiant]

Here's a great source for info:

http://library.buffalo.edu/specialcollections/lovecanal/about/

 

[sg1838]

True story - my dad worked as a plumber in the Buffalo plumbers union and he was stationed at Love Canal for a time as new houses were being built on some of the property (I'm not sure how long). He said in certain places when they were digging, they found it odd that the dirt was all sorts of strange hues of orange and purple. Of course, they found out later why.

I'm personally too young to remember the whole ordeal, but that Wikipedia article does mention the names of some of the residents that led the fight in the late 1970's. If you wanted the Love Canal research paper of all research papers, I would try to contact those individuals. I don't think you could get any better than that.

Good luck!

 

[mr86mister]

Wow, thanks everyone for the info. I will follow the resource links for sure.

Tim-I know that some of you guys out there have to at least be in their 50-60's....lol.

Ben-Thank you very much for that link. That will come in handy.

 

[toddmh]

I remember it,I was pretty young though..My family had a couple friends we helped move from there..Most what I remember is block after block of boarded up ghost town..

 

[superkat]

i was a little girl, living in Hornell at the time. My Mom and Dad would do weekend trips to Niagara Falls at least twice a month. And I remember my Dad said he wouldn't go up there for awhile after the news broke. I did a research paper on it in my junior year in High School...but doubt i still have it. But I do remember it on the news...during and for a couple of years afterwards, when people started getting sick, or children started to develop illnesses related to the whole incident. And quite honestly, until you brought it up...i never really knew the outcome of the area? What eventually was done to clean it up and what is there now?

 

[toddmh]

the whole area is rebuilt now,just as if it never happened..

 

[superkat]

wow. i wonder how the people who live there feel about it. might be interesting add to your research.

 

[toddmh]

I remember a few years back watching a documentary on tv about Love Canal,wish i could remember more about the documentary ..

 

[superkat]

so funny how something from your past can be triggered by a post, huh? I KNOW FOR A FACT...that I have old photos from when it was safe to go back up there of the streets lined with boarded up houses....and clippings from the newspaper of the pools of gunk in the backyards and basements.....