Love Canal

             When William T Love first envisioned Model City, how could he have suspected the twists of fate that would turn his vision into a chemical disaster area that would grab the attention of the nation and bring suffering upon the people living around it? The engineers at Hooker Chemicals had some idea of the toxic melting pot that was fermenting when they strongly recommended that the site was not suitable for inhabitation. But apparently city planners did not realize what they were doing when they built a school and community on top of the buried dump of brewing chemicals puncturing the already poor containment walls and spreading the chemicals throughout the surrounding area. The pandemonium that broke out when residents finally discovered what was oozing out of the ground perked the attention of the attention of the nation and brought home dangerous effects that toxic chemicals can have on humans.
             As with any large-scale disaster there is no one villain, but instead a procession of events that led to the climax of the disaster in August 1978.
             In the late 1800's the potential use of hydroelectric power in conjunction with the Niagara Escarpment came to the forefront. In the early 1880's, William T. Love envisioned a city, "Model City" (p. 9, Love Canal), that would attract industry through the distribution of free power. To this end, Love planned to build a canal to divert water from the Niagara River to his power plant. Through powers of persuasion and political influence, Love was able to condemn properties and divert as much water as needed to commence the project.
             In the mid 1890's, after ground had been broken for industry, housing, and with construction underway on the canal, investors began to pull out of the project due to economic depression. About this time Tesla discovered a method to transmit electrical power using alternating current. This made it less essential for industry to be l...

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Love Canal . (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 03:56, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/60056.html