Public health disasters happen more than we might hear about since they are usually kept pretty well contained by any means possible. Occasionally, they cannot be and they spread like wildfire. The Love Canal Tragedy that took place in Niagara Falls, NY, is just one example of a public health disaster that affected hundreds of people and even forced them to abandon their homes. What started out as a dream of Mr. William T. Love, a dream of a model city fueled by power generated from digging a canal between the upper and lower Niagara Rivers, eventually turned into a nightmare for so many people (Beck, 2016). In the early 1900’s, Mr. William T. Love had a dream of developing a community in Niagara Falls, NY that would have cheaply generated …show more content…
Described as an “environmental time bomb gone off”, Love Canal is evidence of the ignorance, lack of vision, and appropriate laws of past decades, those of which allowed the haphazard disposal of toxic materials. In the spring of 1978, the State Departments of Health and Environmental Conservation launched a thorough air, soil, and groundwater sampling and analysis program following subjective identification of several organic compounds in the basements of eleven homes next to the Love Canal. The fresh data collected by the two agencies not only confirmed the presence of a diversity of compounds, but it also determined exact levels for many of the chemical components. This data revealed that the problem was not limited to a few homes, but that a possible health hazard existed due to long term exposure to the chemicals. On April 25, 1978, the Niagara County health commissioner was ordered to immediately commence corrective actions to remove any noticeable chemicals, limit access to the site, and begin health and engineering studies. As more data rolled in, it became obvious that intolerable levels of toxic fumes connected to more than eighty compounds were coming from the basements of numerous homes within the first ring right next to the Love Canal (Health, …show more content…
The Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Pesticide Act, the Resource Conservation Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, and the Toxic Substances Control Act are all a vital link. Under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the Environmental Protection Agency is making grants accessible to states in order to help them form programs to guarantee the safe management and disposal of hazardous waste. Work is being done to ensure that state inventories of industrial waste disposal sites include full assessments of any probable dangers that could be created by these sites. The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a method to make sure that the 35 million plus tons of hazardous wastes that are manufactured in the United States each year are disposed of carefully. Under the plan, hazardous wastes will be controlled from their point of production, to their final disposal. Dangerous practices which currently result in serious threats to health and the environment, will not be permitted (Beck, 2016). In the after math of The Love Canal tragedy, a state of the art containment system has closed off the dump site itself with thick, clay walls, and two clay caps. The over 200 homes in the immediate surrounding area of the dump site have been demolished, and roughly 236 homes that were previously
The Lowry Landfill Superfund Site is located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, approximately 2 miles east of Aurora. It consists of approximately 507 acres of waste disposal area and is operated by Waste Management of Colorado, Inc. The land surrounding the site consists of native prairie grass and a wetland located along a local creek. Sections around the site are zoned for agricultural use including cattle grazing and non-irrigated wheat farms. 1 The area is home to numerous endangered species including the bald eagle and peregrine falcon. Due to the large amounts of wastes disposed on the site between 1965 and 1980, it became extremely contaminated with a variety of inorganic and organic contaminants. From 1984 to 1993, the EPA oversaw remedial investigation and feasibility studies that were performed by all responsible parties. Since its listing as a superfund site in 1984, multiple remedial actions have been performed in order to rehabilitate the site. These include clay barrier walls around the site, a groundwater collection system, a soil cover for the main landfill, as well as a landfill gas collection system. Groundwater that is collected on the site is treated at an onsite water treatment facility. In 2007, construction began on an onsite gas to energy plant that utilizes the methane produced by the landfill site. The electricity produced by the plant is enough to power 3000 households. 1 Today, use of land and groundwater on and near the site is still restricted by the state of Colorado.1
The first Earth Day had the largest demonstration by having twenty million people attend, creating the next big wave of environmentalists. The neighborhood of Love Canal was a toxic waste dump. It had twenty thousand tons of poisonous chemicals buried beneath the ground that was leaking into the homes and schools of its residences. Lois Gibbs led the movement against Love Canal when she read an article by Michael Brown exposing the problem. Gibbs discovered that the majority of the neighborhood’s elementary school children were sick from chemical residue in the school’s basement. The chemical leakage was also causing birth defects and miscarriages. Lois Gibbs vigorously fought and protested for two years until the state was forced by the federal government to evacuate and relocate Love Canal’s
The documentary, “The Fresh Kills Story”, by Andy Levison, posted on vimeo.com and published in 2012, tells of the transformation of the world’s largest garbage dump into a environmentally friendly park. Fresh Kills began on April 16, 1948 in Staten Island, New York. Covering more than two-thousand acres, the area damaged the reputation, image, and scent of the community surrounding the garbage lot. Nearby residents explained the dump to give off a prison-like impression when they looked at the fences and trees lined with plastic bags and other garbage. Additionally, they noticed those who lived closer to the dump contracted more illnesses than usual. This was a result of harmful chemicals being released into the air
Occupying the centre of a vast array of paintings, postcards, books and plays, Niagara Falls has become a national icon. Since American independence, Niagara Falls has “assumed nationalistic meaning as the search for cultural/national symbols fixed on nature for America’s identity” (Irwin, xiv). Those select few who had the opportunity to view the falls in the eighteenth century pointed to its majestic beauty and transcendental nature as proof of America’s greatness. It was not until the construction of railroads in the middle of the nineteenth century however, that the majority of Americans were able to experience the falls first hand. At this time, the quest to find meaning in this natural wonder came to a climax. Niagara Falls became a battleground on which Americans sought to interpret the message they knew that Mother Nature had left for them to discover. As a result, Niagara Falls came to symbolize the importance of marriage, spirituality, and technological advancement in the construction of an American identity.
Hurricane Katrina was a major travesty to the gulf coast; high winds took down buildings, large rain flooded streets and buildings that still stood. Weeks after the hit of Katrina the media would show images of SOS signs on roof tops, civilians waist high in filthy flood water guiding rescue boats to survivors, and of pets needing help. Because of this there were many health issues that would arise and need rectifying to the good of the people. With any disaster as large as this one there are many health issues that have to be taken under control: Displacement, drinking water, growing viruses, emotional state of survivors or toxic contamination (Public Health News Center). The health problem in regards to the displacement of civilians that had to leave their homes is where will they sleep, what will they eat, and also how are they dealing with the disaster. And the most critical issue with thousands of displaced civilians is having access to clean drinking water (Kellogg Schwab, PhD, co-director of the Center for Water and Health.
...nerators, the Anti-Toxics movement is another important movement that has added to the struggle with Environmental Justice. The Anti-Toxins movement began in the late 1970s as soon as President Jimmy Carter acknowledged Love Canal, New York, a catastrophe spot. Carter in due course evacuated the area for safety reasons. Ever since the evacuation the former citizens of Love Canal got together to form the Citizens Clearinghouse of Hazardous Waste. Its goal is to aid thousands of neighboring clusters to fight against deadly waste exposures. Several anti-toxics movement have formed during the past several years to advocate for stricter government policy with regard to pollution prevention. These groups argue for the abolishment of toxic waste, arguing that some areas would be affected by pollutants given the structure of the economy of the United States of America.
The largest environmental disaster in U.S. history occurred on December 22nd, 2008 when a 84-acre pit containing toxic coal combustion residue at the Tennessee Valley Authority Fossil Plant in Kingston, Tennessee gave way. According to a report by AECOM, the firm hired to perform the root cause report, a “combination of the high water content of the wet ash, the increasing height of ash, the construction of the sloping dikes over the wet ash, and the existence of an unusual bottom layer of ash and silt were among the long-evolving conditions that caused the ash spill at Kingston Fossil Plant” (TVA, 2010). The resulting slide sent a wave of over a billion gallons of sludge out on the 300 acres of land surrounding the Fossil plant, instantly covering it with a 4 foot layering of sludge. The toxic coal combustion residue wave destroyed 15 homes, damaged 43 more homes, took down power lines, ruptured a major gas line, potentially poisoned drinking water supplies, and devastated the local fish population. The resulting spill was over 100 times larger then the Exxon-Valdez oil spill (CNN, 2008). The sludge contaminated both the Emory River and the Clinch River, both tributaries of the Tennessee River. While no lives were lost during the actual event, the environmental and public health implications will continue to haunt Tennessee for a very long time to come. The true extent of the damage won’t become known for many generations.
Hazards pose risk to everyone. Our acceptance of the risks associated with hazards dictates where and how we live. As humans, we accept a certain amount of risk when choosing to live our daily lives. From time to time, a hazard becomes an emergent situation. Tornadoes in the Midwest, hurricanes along the Gulf Coast or earthquakes in California are all hazards that residents in those regions accept and live with. This paper will examine one hazard that caused a disaster requiring a response from emergency management personnel. Specifically, the hazard more closely examined here is an earthquake. With the recent twenty year anniversary covered by many media outlets, the January 17, 1994, Northridge, California earthquake to date is the most expensive earthquake in American history.
Over the past year, a major contamination event shocked the nation. The Flint Michigan water crisis opened my eyes to the issues of contamination throughout the country. I soon realized that I did not know much about my neighborhood or potential hazards. I grew up in an apartment complex in North Brunswick, NJ. Nine years ago my family and I moved into our new home, which is located on the border of North Brunswick and New Brunswick. My current neighborhood is different in many ways, but I have learned to appreciate its flaws. The Residential Survey allowed me to investigate my home, which sometimes still feels very unfamiliar.
The Superfund program, which was better known as just Superfund, is also known as the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability act (CERLA) of 1980 was developed by the federal government as a way to preserve and protect the ecosystem and to clean up toxic, uncontrolled, abandoned hazardous waste sites. (Boorse & Wright, 2011, p.577). The Superfund program cleans up any hazardous waste, be it abandoned, accidentally spilled, or illegally dumped; any of which may pose a threat to future or current health or the environment. The Environmental Protection Agency works with the community, the responsible parties or the potential responsible party in identifying these hazardous waste sites in formulating plans to clean up these sites. Superfund provides laws and standards for the disposal and storage of such wastes. In addition, the Superfund program provides emergency financial support to existing environmental agencies to monitor removal of toxins, and to provide emergency cleanup services, provide monetary reparation to people who faced health or financial difficulties and concerns from toxic waste, and, if needed, to help enact emergency evacuation procedures. Superfund also provides for liability of persons responsible for releases of hazardous waste at these sites, and can establish a tax on the chemical and petroleum industries to make available for cleanup when no responsible party could be recognized. The National Priorities List, or NPL, is a list of the worst hazardous waste sites that have been identified by Superfund. (Boorse & Wright, 2011, p. 578). Any site on the NPL is eligible for cleanup using Superfund Trust money.
An example of a modern day natural disaster is Hurricane Katrina, which happened on August 29, 2005. Some people such as Pastor John Hagee said that the hurricane was started because of man’s sins in New Orleans. He stated “Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans.” New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God, he stated because “there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that Katrina came”(Corley). This is one modern day example of how a pastor shared his belief behind why Hurricane Katrina, a natural disaster,
In the 1930’s before the Love Canal area was turned into neighborhoods, the Hooker Chemical Company purchased the area and used it as a burial site for 20,000 metric tons of chemicals. In 1953 the Hooker Chemical Company sold the land to the Niagara Falls Board of Education for $1.00. There was a stipulation in the deed, which stated that if anyone incurred physical harm or death because of their buried wastes, they would not be responsible. Shortly after, the land changed hands yet again and this time home building began directly adjacent to the canal. Families who bought homes here were unaware of the waste buried in their backyards.
Closure of a major transportation hub as a result of the release of the hazardous material
Before the 1970s, when environmental regulation became commonplace in the United States, environmental health was not a main priority. Sanitation infrastructure was lackluster, high levels of air and water pollution was normal and disease outbreaks were common. These environmental health problems were not new and were not unique to the United States; they were present on a global scale. Cholera outbreaks in London, typhoid fever outbreaks in Chicago and New York were all a result of weak environmental laws. Rodent infestations in the fourteenth century riddled
"Recycling | Reduce, Reuse, Recycle | US EPA." US Environmental Protection Agency. Web. 06 Dec. 2011. .