The Carl Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy at Wayne State University Law School has released a new edition of its “Portraits in Oversight” series that details the multiple congressional oversight investigations that exposed the deadly impact of the Love Canal environmental disaster and disclosed that it was just one of thousands of hazardous waste sites across the country.
In response to these investigations and the public outcry that followed, Congress enacted the Superfund Program which provided the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the authority and funding to identify and clean up hazardous waste sites across the United States.
In 1942, Hooker Chemical acquired land in Niagara Falls, NY in 1942, and for 11 years buried 21,800 tons of toxic chemicals in the abandoned Love Canal.
For two decades, residents experienced illness until the site was tested and more than 82 chemical compounds, at least 11 of which were carcinogens such as benzene and dioxin, were uncovered.
The contamination prompted then-President Jimmy Carter to declare the first federal state of emergency stemming from a man-made environmental disaster on August 7, 1978.
The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, precursor to today’s Energy and Commerce Committee, held 13 public hearings, which took place from October 1978 to June 1979, and heard from 106
witnesses, many of whom provided chilling details about the Love Canal site.
The disaster led to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) in 1980. CERCLA is informally called Superfund.
It allows EPA to clean up contaminated sites and forces the parties responsible for the contamination to either perform cleanups or reimburse the government for EPA-led cleanup work.
Jim Townsend, Levin Center director, said Love Canal marked a turning point in Congress’ willingness to acknowledge and investigate industrial waste sites poisoning American communities.
“The new Portrait in Oversight commemorates the bipartisan work that exposed and acted on a complex, nationwide environmental problem, reminding Congress and the public of what is possible.”
The Love Canal Portrait in Oversight is sponsored by the US Capitol Historical Society.
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