Continuing the Promise of Earth Day (continued)

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Tragic Consequences at Love Canal
At Love Canal, over 21,000 tons of chemical wastes were deposited in a landfill. The landfill closed in 1952, and was then covered over the next year. Over time, a community grew around the abandoned landfill. Under the old scenario of "out of sight-out of mind," that should have been the end of the story.

Evacuation at Love Canal

However, more than two decades later, increasing numbers of Love Canal residents began complaining of health problems, including chronic headaches, respiratory discomforts, and skin ailments. Residents also noticed high incidents of cancer and deafness. The State of New York investigated and found high levels of chemical contaminants in the soil and air -- with a high incidence of birth defects and miscarriages in the immediate area around the Love Canal landfill. President Jimmy Carter declared a State of Emergency in 1978, and Federal funds were used to permanently relocate 239 families in the first two rows of houses that encircled the landfill area.

But the tragedy did not end. A New York State investigation found "extensive migration of potentially toxic materials outside the immediate canal area." In 1979, 300 additional families in a 10-block area around the site were relocated because of health problems from chemical exposures. In 1980, EPA announced the results of blood tests that showed chromosome damage in Love Canal residents. Residents were told that this could mean an increased risk of cancer, reproductive problems, and genetic damage. Later that year, President Carter issued a second State of Emergency -- providing funding for the permanent relocation of all 900 residents of the Love Canal area.

Early Attempts to Deal with Toxic Chemicals
Six years after Earth Day, Congress acted to address the threat from these new chemicals and their introduction into the environment. The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) established methods for identifying chemicals that could pose risks to humans, plants, and animals -- and placed controls on their manufacture, distribution, use, and disposal. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) provided a framework for ensuring the safe disposal of wastes that threaten human health or the environment because they are flammable, explosive, corrosive, or toxic. RCRA required that such "hazardous wastes" be tightly managed from generation to disposal.

Environmental awareness on Earth Day

TSCA and RCRA addressed the new threats posed by industrial practices developed during the 20^th century. Together, they empowered EPA to establish a regulatory scheme to provide protections from the introduction of dangerous chemicals and chemical by-products into the environment.

But Love Canal exposed a gap in this new blanket of protection. Toxic chemicals did not need to be newly introduced to provide a threat to a community. Unforeseen events could result in wastes posing new dangers -- even though they were buried long ago and mostly forgotten.

A new threat to human health and the environment was discovered in the decade after Earth Day. And new ways needed to be developed to address this serious challenge.

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