Menu -- Chronology -- Love Canal Collection
LOVE CANAL CHRONOLOGY
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Below find the Love Canal chronology reprinted with permission from the Niagara Gazette,
May 23, 1980. Within the Ecumenical Task Force collection, are several chronologies
representing various views of organizations which produced them. One of the most
comprehensive, produced by the ETF itself for yearly prgress reports, can accessed through
the following links.
[Chronology I: 1836-June 1980] [Chronology II: August 1980-September 1981]
[Chronology III: September 1981-August 1984]
(Originally published in The Niagara Gazette, May 23, 1980. Reprinted with
permission.)
 1894 William T. Love begins the man-made canal that he envisions linking the
Niagara River to Lake Ontario, providing water and hydroelectric power for a model
industrial city.
 1947 to 1952 Hooker Chemicals and Plastic Corp. takes over the 15-acre site and by
1952 has buried thousands of tons of toxic chemicals there.
 1953 Hooker sells the canal for $1 to the Board of Education (City of Niagara Falls,
New York) and writes into the deed a disclaimer of responsibility for future damages
due to the presence of buried chemicals. The board subsequently builds a school
there and sells off land that is developed with residences.
 October 3, 1976 The Niagara Gazette reports that materials from a chemical landfill
between 97th and 99th streets have been seeping into basements of homes in the
area. Reports of illness and injuries to human, animal and plant life.
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Menu -- Chronology -- Love Canal Collection
 November 2, 1976 The Gazette reports chemical analyses of residues near the old
Love Canal dumpsite indicated presence of 15 organic chemicals, including three
toxic chlorinated hydrocarbons.
 November 4, 1976 The Gazette reports that toxic chemicals seeping into cellars of
homes are being carried through city storm sewers and improperly discharged into
the Niagara River.
 September 1977 Rep. John J. LaFalce, D-Town of Tonawanda, and federal
Environmental Protection Agency begin looking into problems at Love Canal. The
Gazette continues investigations on its own and urging governmental action.
 April 1978 The New York State health commissioner (name???) orders county health
department To restrict access to the area and begin health studies.
 May 1978 Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concludes from air
sampling in basements at Love Canal that toxic vapors are a serious health threat.
State health department reveals plan for medical studies of residents.
 June 1978 State continues studies and does some house-to-house sampling and
collecting of blood samples for analysis. Pentagon officials deny any knowledge of
records pertaining to possible disposal of U.S. Army wastes at Love Canal.
 July 1978 New York State Governor Hugh Carey signs legislation granting additional
emergency powers to state health commissioner to deal with Love Canal problems
and appropriates $500,000 for long-range health studies.
 August 2, 1978 Acting under wider powers, the state health commissioner, declares a
state of emergency exists at the Love Canal and orders closing of 99th Street School
and evacuation of pregnant women and children under 2.
 August 7, 1978 United States President Jimmy Carter approves emergency financial
aid for the area so New York State can start buying homes of 236 families eventually
relocated at a cost of $10 million.
 November 10, 1978 200 tons of dioxin, a lethal chemical are reported buried in the
canal. Residents fears heighten.
 November 22, 1978 Over 200 chemical compounds are identified as being buried in
the canal.
 December 8, 1978 Reports of findings of dioxin and other chemicals and state's
refusal to relocate another 54 families on the outskirts of the contaminated area
bring vehement protests from residents. One protest leads to the arrest of 7 Love
Canal homeowners. Charges are later dropped.
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Menu -- Chronology -- Love Canal Collection
 January 23, 1979 Dr. Beverly Paigen, a cancer researcher at Roswell Park Memorial
Institute, Buffalo, urges evacuation of more families in light if her study revealing a
high rate of birth defects and miscarriages among Love Canal families.
 January 29, 1979 The Federal Disaster Assistance Administration rejects a state
appeal to reimburse it for $22 million spent on the Love Canal relocating residents
and cleaning up the site.
 February 8, 1979 State announces it will pay temporary relocation costs for about 30
families with either pregnant women or children under age 2 between 97th and
103rd Streets after documenting claims of birth deformities and pregnancy-related
problems outside the first ring of the Love Canal.
 March 21, 1979 A House subcommittee begins hearings into Love Canal problems.
Hears residents and others argue that the state underestimated the scope of health
problems and failed to respond in an efficient and timely manner.
 March 29, 1979 Bruce Davis, executive vice president of Hooker's Industrial
Chemicals Group, tells the Senate Subcommitteee it has no legal liability for last
summer's Love Canal environmental disaster. The State Legislature grants a property
tax rebate for Love Canal residents for five years, retroactive to 1978. ...releases
Operation Bootstrap, a 1975 company management study of the Niagara Plant
documenting obsolete equipment, substandard environmental conditions and massive
discharging of waters into sewers leading to the Niagara River.
 April 11, 1979 Rep. Albert Gore, D. Tenn., charges Love Canal was avoidable had
hooker paid attention to danger signals. He cites and internal hooker memorandum,
dated June 18, 1958, which described three to four children burned by materials at
the Love Canal.
 April 14, 1979 Reports that dioxin levels at Love Canal are 100 times higher than
previously reported. Reports that contaminant is also found at Bloody Run Creek near
Niagara University.
 April 24, 1979 EPA approves $4 million for remedial work at the Love Canal. City
receives $1 million in Federal Disaster Assistance Administration funds to help pay
debts incurred at the Love Canal.
 May 4, 1979 State finds traces of highly-toxic chemicals around 93rd Street School
and orders more tests to determine extent of contamination.
 May 26, 1979 Fifteen bids are received for abandoned Love Canal homes. Future of
sales and relocation of houses in doubt as former residents protest action.
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Menu -- Chronology -- Love Canal Collection
 June 14, 1979 State Legislature extends property tax exemptions to another 300
families in area of Love Canal. Carter Administration reveals plans for a $1.63 billion
Superfund for hazardous waste clean-ups across the country. Fate of that plan still
hasn't been resolved, although funds were proposed from the 1981 budget.
 July 12, 1979 EPA announces creation of a special task force to aid in identification
and clean-up of toxic waste sites, including 36 on the Niagara Frontier [western New
York State].
 August 30, 1979 The City of Niagara Falls Board of Education closes 93rd Street
School pending the outcome of further studies of chemical contaminants. Students
are transferred to various schools throughout the City.
 September 4, 1979 Over 200 canal residents take up residence at Stella Niagara
Education Park [n.b., Route 18F, Lower River Road, Lewiston, New York] over the
Labor Day weekend after being moved out of hotels and motels in the area. They
had left the canal area after complaining of noxious odors from the remedial work.
 September 13, 1979 State Supreme Court orders extension of state-funded relocation
of residents for a few days to allow the residents time to submit statements signed
by physicians that they are unable to live in their homes due to remedial work.
 September 26, 1979 The first Love Canal lawsuits naming Hooker and three public
agencies are initiated.
 October 3, 1979 State Supreme Court rejects a $2.5 billion lawsuit filed on behalf of
900 Love Canal residents.
 October 5, 1979 Actress Jane Fonda and activist husband, Tom Hayden visit the Love
Canal.
 October 14, 1979 House subcommittee recommends relocation of another 140
families after reviewing research by Dr. Paigen that chemicals from the Love Canal
are migrating.
 October 31, 1979 Over 800 lawsuits have been filed naming Hooker, the city, county
and Board of Education totaling $11 billion.
 November 1979 A federal report indicates the odds of Love Canal residents
contracting cancer is as high as 1 in 10.
 November 6, 1979 Remedial work on canal is said to be completed and state says
110 families temporarily relocated can return.
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Menu -- Chronology -- Love Canal Collection
 December 20, 1979 Federal Justice Department initiates a $124 million lawsuit
against Hooker in connection with chemicals buried at four sites in the city.
 December 23, 1979 Albert Elia Construction Co. awarded a contract to operate an on-
site treatment facility at the Love Canal for one year.
 January 1980 The city sells $6.5 million in bonds to pay for remedial work in the
south portion of the Love Canal.
 February 1980 EPA announces it's found four chemicals suspected of causing cancer
in air samplings at Love Canal.
 March 1980 State declines participation in a Love Canal revitalization program
initiated by the city.
 April 1989 State files a $635 million lawsuit against Occidental Petroleum and two of
its subsidiaries. Hooker Chemical Corp. and Hooker Chemicals and Plastics Corp.
claiming they are responsible for Love Canal disaster.
 May 13, 1980 Niagara Falls City Council creates the Love Canal Revitalization
Authority, a non-profit corporation. The Town of Wheatfield later joins.
 May 17, 1980 EPA announces chromosome damage has been found in 11 of 36
residents tested in the Love Canal.
 May 19, 1980 Demanding immediate action on evacuation of another 710 families,
angry residents detain two EPA officials for about six hours at the Love Canal
Homeowner's Association offices. They urge the declaration of a national emergency.
 May 21, 1980 President Carter declares Love Canal a national emergency paving way
for relocation of another 710 families. Niagara County Legislature incurs wrath of
Love Canal residents by again refusing to join the Love Canal Revitalization Authority.
Last updated: 17 October 2001
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