Love Canal is a neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York, United States, infamous as the location of a 0.28 km2 (0.11 sq mi) landfill that became the site of an environmental disaster discovered in 1977.

In 1988, New York State Department of Health Commissioner David Axelrod called the Love Canal incident a "national symbol of a failure to exercise a sense of concern for future generations".

[3] The University at Buffalo Archives house a number of primary documents, photographs, and news clippings pertaining to the Love Canal environmental disaster; many items have been digitized and are viewable online.

[citation needed] By that point, Love himself was long gone; in 1897 he left the United States for England,[14] before returning to attempt similar schemes in Washington, Illinois, and Delaware.

[18] During its 10-year lifespan, the landfill served as the dumping site of 21,800 short tons (19,800 t) of chemicals, mostly composed of products such as "caustics, alkalines, fatty acid and chlorinated hydrocarbons resulting from the manufacturing of dyes, perfumes, and solvents for rubber and synthetic resins".

After this, in an internal company memorandum dated March 27, 1952, Bjarne Klaussen, Hooker's vice president, wrote to the works manager that "it may be advisable to discontinue using the Love Canal property for a dumping ground.

It was this attempt to evade their responsibility, Colten and Skinner contend, that would "ultimately come back to haunt not only Hooker but all other chemical producers in the United States through the strict liability provisions of Superfund legislation.

In January 1954, the school's architect wrote to the education committee informing them that during excavation, workers discovered two dump sites filled with 55-US-gallon (210 L; 46 imp gal) drums containing chemical wastes.

The school district sold the remaining land sometime in late 1957 or early 1958, resulting in homes being constructed by private developers, as well as the Niagara Falls Housing Authority.

The sale came despite the warning of a Hooker attorney, Arthur Chambers, that, as paraphrased in the minutes of a board meeting, due to chemical waste having been dumped in that area, the land was not suitable for construction where underground facilities would be necessary.

[39] During the spring of 1977, the State Departments of Health and Environmental Conservation began an intensive air, soil, and groundwater sampling and analysis program after qualitative identification of a number of organic compounds in the basements of 11 homes adjacent to the Love Canal.

[41] Data showed unacceptable levels of toxic vapors associated with more than 80 compounds were emanating from the basements of numerous homes in the first ring directly adjacent to the Love Canal.

[43] Laboratory analyses of soil and sediment samples from the Love Canal indicate the presence of more than 200 distinct organic chemical compounds;[vague] approximately 100 of these have been identified to date.

scientific studies did not conclusively prove the chemicals were responsible for the residents' illnesses, and scientists were divided on the issue, even though eleven known or suspected carcinogens had been identified, one of the most prevalent being benzene.

[56] In that year, the Albert Elia Building Co., Inc., now Sevenson Environmental Services, Inc., was selected as the principal contractor to safely re-bury the toxic waste at the Love Canal Site.

[57] The matter became quiet for more than a year and was then revived by reporter Michael Brown, who then investigated potential health effects by performing an informal door-to-door survey during early 1978, writing a hundred news items on toxic wastes in the area and finding birth defects and many anomalies such as enlarged feet, heads, hands, and legs.

[citation needed] In September 1977, Congressman John LaFalce (D), who represented the district, paid a high profile visit to Love Canal, to raise attention to the serious problems.

[58] By 1978, Love Canal had become a national media event with articles referring to the neighborhood as "a public health time bomb", and "one of the most appalling environmental tragedies in American history".

Notably, two EPA employees were also held hostage by activists for approximately five hours at the office of the Love Canal Homeowners Association (LCHA) , to bring their demands to the attention of the federal government.

[citation needed] The NAACP became involved with the Love Canal issue after William Abrams Sr., president of the Niagara Falls chapter drew attention to his wife's fatal liver failure.

This group's action sought to address the needs of the (largely, but not exclusively, African-American) renter community, whose interests were at times perceived to be in conflict with those of some members of the (predominantly white) property owners represented by the LCHA.

He developed epilepsy in December, suffered from asthma and a urinary tract infection, and had a low white blood cell count,[63][64] all associated with his exposure to the leaking chemical waste.

It was closed some two years later and subsequently demolished because of concerns about seeping toxic waste, but both the school board and the chemical company denied responsibility for the pollution, and thus the liability for its cleanup and the damages arising from past failures to remediate the site.

The lack of public interest in Love Canal made matters worse for the homeowners' association, which was opposed by two organizations seeking to disprove negligence in the disposal of the waste.

[citation needed] In 1994, Federal District Judge John Curtin ruled that Hooker/Occidental had been negligent, but not reckless, in its handling of the waste and sale of the land to the Niagara Falls School Board.

[78] Love Canal, along with Times Beach, Missouri and the Valley of the Drums, Kentucky, are important in United States environmental history as three sites that significantly contributed to the passing of the CERCLA.

Government decision makers are seldom held accountable for broader social goals in the way that private owners are by liability rules and potential profits.

In 1983, the award-winning documentary by Lynn Corcoran titled In Our Own Backyard was released in the U.S..[89] The 1998 video game Blood II: The Chosen features a level called Love Canal, whose opening text makes explicit references to the disaster.

[95] "Love Canal" was a segment in the premiere episode of Michael Moore's television series TV Nation, which featured realtors attempting to lure prospective residents to the area.

[96] In the 2000 film Erin Brockovich, when legal counsel Ed Masry holds a town meeting in an attempt to discuss arbitration in the case of Hinkley groundwater contamination by Pacific Gas and Electric, the townsfolk are reluctant to agree.