Editorial

Love Canal in Niagara Falls, New York has been a constant problem for the past thirty five years for the residents of the area. Many lawsuits were filed after residents became extremely ill from the chemicals which were buried in the ground in the seventies. Now, in 2015 more problems are surfacing after the problems were supposedly solved years ago. Dozens of families in the area have been plagued with numerous illnesses, diseases as well as many women have been suffering from miscarriages just as others did decades ago. Homeowners were led to believe that the chemicals were sealed away and the area was safe to live in but as time goes by this proves false. In the seventies when the chemicals in the canal were surfacing as problems, the area had been evacuated, capped and families received compensation therefore people believed they were safe to return although one woman, Lois Gibbs, was completely against the resettling in the area. After a lot of remodeling in the 90's, many of the homes were sold 20 percent below market value and families moved back to the area. During an excavation project in 2011, more harmful chemicals were discovered in the sewers. Many lawsuits were filed after it was known that during the project, the contamination increased as the crew tried to flush chemicals through the streets and storm drains. Many believe, including myself, that the containment system was not an effective fix for the chemicals and it has also been believed that to this day chemicals continue to leak and spread throughout the area.