Prior to CERCLA, there were attempts at dealing with toxic chemicals and polluted dump sites.

 

     RCRA in 1976 was an attempt at dealing with illegal dumping by bringing the management of solid and hazardous waste "from cradle to grave" as well as any necessary cleanup actions under EPA control. It also deals with the reduction of waste and the redevelopment of waste sites in an economically beneficial way to communities.

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     In 1976, Congress also passed The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) which gave the EPA power to control  toxic chemical which posed a risk of injury. 

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     But several high profile incidents made regulators aware of shortcomings in the law. in 1977 a Bridgeport, New Jersey a chemical waste treatment facility exploded into fire killing six and injuring thirty-five people. 

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     This was followed by the spectacular site of "The Valley of the Drums" a 3-acre area in northern Brooks, Kentucky where waste was dumped over a ten year period, often just poured out onto the ground. It also recycled the drums giving the public a grim image since over  100,000 drums were found on the site, 27,00 of them being buried underground.

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                           Photo Courtesy of Amusing Planet

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      The "final straw" for the public, though, was the "Love Canal" disaster. The site began as a canal dug by William T. Love to span between the upper and lower Niagra rivers, but he abandoned the project in 1910. By 1920 it had become a municipal and industrial chemical dump which was bought by the Hooker Chemical Company in 1942. In 1953, the Hooker Chemical Company covered the dump and sold it to the city for a dollar. By that time over twenty tons of carcinogenic chemicals including dioxin had been dumped there.

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    Soon afterward, about one hundred homes and a school were built on top of it. In the 1970's it became clear that much higher than normal health problems and birth defects were occurring in the community. Apparently, two consecutive years of high amounts of precipitation caused the water table to rise high enough to leach these chemicals into residents' yards and basements as well as the school's playground.

 

     Response by New York State officials was apathetic at best, but well-publicized activism by the town's housewives led then President Jimmy Carter to declare a state of emergency and relocate hundreds of residents. This gave lawmakers the needed push to pass CERCLA which allowed for those responsible for polluting to be held financially liable since Hooker Chemical had tried to shun responsibility after selling the land. 

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                          Love Canal Image Courtesy of Rebel Siren on Wordpress

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