Notable case, Niagara Falls, New York, United States
Love Canal
A never-finished canal used by Hooker Electrochemical to bury more than 21,000 tons of chemical waste, later covered and surrounded by a school and homes. It is the case that led to the 1980 Superfund law.
At a glance
- Status
- Contained
- Area
- 28 ha on land1
- Activity
- 1942–1953
- Media
- soil, groundwater, sediment, surface water, air
- Kind of site
- chemical works, landfill
- National list
- Removed 2004National Priorities List
- Area. Fenced 70-acre site (about 28 ha) including the original 16-acre (6.5 ha) landfill. The 1980 Emergency Declaration Area covered about 350 acres (140 ha) of neighbourhood.
- People affected. About 950 families relocated out of more than 1,050 living in the ten-block area (EPA).
Contaminants
National list
Deleted from the list (clean-up complete)United States
Superfund National Priorities List (NPL)
- Listed
- 1983
- Removed
- 2004
- Official id
- NYD000606947 ↗
About this list
The list of contaminated sites that are national priorities for federal clean-up under CERCLA (Superfund, 1980), kept by EPA (40 CFR Part 300, Appendix B). Listing makes a site eligible for long-term remedial action paid by the Superfund; sites are proposed and then listed through Federal Register notices, and deleted when no further response is needed.
Includes federal facilities (Defense, Energy). Dates are the years of the Federal Register notices (final listing, deletion); 'listed' is empty for proposed sites. Some sites still on the list have had partial deletions. Contaminants and media: contaminants of concern from decision documents (RODs, ROD amendments, ESDs; EPA, fiscal years 1981-2024, SEMS document HQ/406315); for sites with no decision document (mostly proposed or recently listed) the contaminants are those EPA records for the site (FOIA-015, document HQ/406366), with no medium. 'Deleted' means EPA found no further response needed, which can include land-use controls still in force.
Status
Contained
The waste remains in place under a 40-acre cap, with leachate collection and treatment still running. EPA's fifth five-year review confirmed the remedy is protective; the next one starts in 2029.
Story
Love Canal was a late-19th-century excavation for a hydroelectric canal that was never built. Between 1942 and 1953 the Hooker Electrochemical Company (now Occidental Chemical) buried more than 21,000 tons of chemical waste there in drums. In 1953 the 16-acre landfill was covered with soil and passed to the Niagara Falls Board of Education; an elementary school and many homes were built next to it.
Complaints about odours and residues began in the 1960s and grew in the 1970s, when the water table rose and brought contaminated water to the surface. Federal and state studies showed that many toxic chemicals, dioxin among them, had moved through sewers into nearby creeks. In 1978 President Carter declared an emergency, and a second declaration in 1980 created the Emergency Declaration Area.
FEMA moved about 950 of the more than 1,050 families living in a ten-block area; the nearest evacuated homes were demolished in 1982 and the rubble placed under the cap. The remedy was containment: a polyethylene cover, a leachate collection system and a treatment plant. Work ended in 1999; more than 260 abandoned homes were rehabilitated and sold again.
Timeline
- 1942Hooker Electrochemical starts burying chemical waste in the canal.
- 1953The landfill is covered and passed to the Board of Education.
- 1978First federal emergency declaration; the state installs leachate collection.
- 1980Second emergency declaration; Congress passes the Superfund law (CERCLA).
- 1983Placed on the first National Priorities List.
- 1988EPA habitability study of the emergency area.
- 1999Cleanup work completed.
- 2004Deleted from the National Priorities List.
Health
Studies carried out at the time of the emergency reported more low-birth-weight babies and birth defects among residents' children. A 1979 study of chromosome damage in a small group of residents contributed to the decision to evacuate.
Remediation
- 1978leachate collectionContaminated-liquid collection system installed by New York State, followed by a leachate treatment plant.
- 1982cappingEvacuated homes demolished and a polyethylene cover extended over 40 acres.
- 1999sediment removalSewer and creek sediments removed and treated and soil at the 93rd Street School cleaned up, all complete by 1999.
From the literature
Species that acted on one of this site's contaminants in at least one study. The list is automatic and takes no account of this site's soil, concentrations or climate.
Plants
- Cucurbita pepoZucchini, pumpkinPolychlorinated biphenylsDioxins and furansEvidence: field
- Populus × generosaHybrid poplar (P. trichocarpa × P. deltoides)Chlorinated solvents (TCE, PCE, chloroform)Polychlorinated biphenylsEvidence: field
- Medicago sativaAlfalfa, lucernePolychlorinated biphenylsEvidence: field
- Morus spp.MulberryPolychlorinated biphenylsEvidence: laboratory
- Populus × canadensisCanadian poplar (P. deltoides × P. nigra)Chlorinated solvents (TCE, PCE, chloroform)Evidence: laboratory
Fungi
- Phanerochaete chrysosporiumPhenols and chlorophenolsPolychlorinated biphenylsDioxins and furansHexachlorocyclohexane (lindane)Evidence: field
- Trametes versicolorTurkey tailPhenols and chlorophenolsChlorinated solvents (TCE, PCE, chloroform)Evidence: field
- Phlebia brevisporaDioxins and furansPolychlorinated biphenylsEvidence: laboratory
- Scedosporium apiospermumBTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes)Phenols and chlorophenolsEvidence: laboratory
- Bjerkandera adustaSmoky bracketHexachlorocyclohexane (lindane)Evidence: laboratory
- Irpex lacteusMilk-white toothed polyporePolychlorinated biphenylsEvidence: laboratory
The rest are on the contaminant pages.
Nearby
Sources
- Love Canal, Niagara Falls, NY – Cleanup Activities, US EPA, 2026
- Love Canal, Wikipedia, 2026
Draft compiled from public sources, not yet reviewed.