Bowen’s sunny description is hard to square with the dire images of 1978, when President Jimmy Carter declared Love Canal an emergency area, and evacuations began. Residents nearest the dump lived practically on top of a deadly store of chemicals, including toluene and dioxin–and reports soon surfaced of higher-thannormal rates of miscarriages, birth defects and cancer among them. The scandal prodded the U.S. Congress in 1980 to create “Superfund” to pay for the cleanup of 1,218 toxic sites–50 of them now complete.
After a 12-year, $250-million effort at Love Canal, the Environmental Protection Agency concluded this spring that four of its seven areas are “habitable.” (The other three are slated to become industrial areas and parkland.) A state-of-the-art containment system has sealed off the 16-acre dump itself, with dense clay walls and two three-foot-thick caps-one spanning 22 acres and the other 40 acres. The 239 houses immediately surrounding the dump have been demolished, and the entire area is blocked off by a chain-link fence. Periodic testing of air, water and soil ensures that no telltale chemicals are leaking out. “A child runs far, far greater health risks if his parents smoke or drink than he does living in Love Canal,” says James Carr, planning director of the Love Canal Area Revitalization Agency.
Environmental and citizens groups disagree. “Even the government admits that the containment system will not last forever,” says Michael Vickerman, conservation chairman of the New York chapter of the Sierra Club. “With poisons this deadly, that leaves a huge question mark.” Next week the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council and four other organizations intend to file suit in state and federal courts to block the immediate sale of homes and seek new risk assessments. “I’d like to see a lot more information on the health risks before making a major policy decision to move people back,” says NRDC attorney Rebecca Todd. “Love Canal is a ticking time bomb. "
Environmentalists fear that the discount prices of Love Canal properties–20 percent be low market value–will attract young families looking for starter homes; pregnant women and children are at greatest risk from toxins. “Five or 10 thousand dollars is nothing compared with a human life,” warns Luella Kenny. Her own 7-year-old son died at Love Canal in 1978, of a kidney disease that doctors later said was linked to dioxin contamination. “He died of playing in his own backyard,” she says.
If the Revitalization Agency has its way, within three years the area will be populated. New parks will flourish; the 93rd Street school will reopen. Perhaps Love Canal will then resemble any other well-kept, middle-class neighborhood. More than 200 families seem ready to take the chance.
