Ace's Adventures: LOVE CANAL: Niagara Falls NY

[@christinestange4813]

Fifteen or twenty years ago, Lois Conn Gibbs came back to town and revisited the area. I was a reporter for a small community newspaper. I had followed her career since Love Canal. We had graduated from High School together. She had changed so much since then. Amazing what changes can evolve when family and friends are threatened. As I walked the mostly abandoned streets with Gibbs and a dozen other past residents of Love Canal, it was difficult to believe it had once been a thriving neighborhood .... these people had been through so much. A haunting disaster. Appreciate the update.

[@amandaallison6667]

I was born and lived in Love Canal until the age of 2. My mom, Debbie (Cerrillo back then) worked side by side with Lois Gibbs and other homeowners to fight for us to get out. Though very young, I do remember bits and pieces and I remember watching my parents cry as we watched our home be knocked down. Today, as a matter of fact, my mom is being interviewed by a tv station about this history. I am proud and grateful to Lois Gibbs, my mom and all the others that fought for our health.

[@timotundy]

Yes! Your mom was a big activist, too!

[@LD-pw7oq]

Ever since I saw the video of the tragedy of the Love Canal, I can never forget it. What a beautiful dream place it must have been being near the falls. Those poor people suffered horribly because of the poisonous chemical companies. Thanks to a woman's determined leadership and her devoted friends to fight against the human injustice done to them!

[@GaryGans]

LD, I was on the Lawsuit to get remedial cleanup from the Love Canal site. I knew Lois well, and she gave me the anger that made me fight for the funding of the Love Canal. But I need to make sure that you understand that this was far more complex that Hooker Chemical Companiy’s Liability. The City of Niagara Falls, the Niagara Falls jSchool Board and NYDOT (the NY State Department of Transportation were just as liable for this disaster as Hooker (which is now part of Occidental). The Love Canal was supposed to become a huge turbine, like the Three Gorges Dam in the PRC, but William T Love was a bit of a vagabond. There’s currently Electricity that’s generated by the Niagara River, but on the Canadian Side. What ended Love’s interest was the power plant, but he proposed a Direct Current Power Plant which was proven to be far less effective in generating power, so he was left with the Canal. He quickly sold the property, and the City of Niagara Falls sold it to Hooker. In 1953 the City of Niagara Falls and the Niagara Falls School Board forced Hooker to sell the land back to the City, and expressly in the Contract from February 1953 Hooker instructed in numerous Clauses for the sale of the site that they were not permitted to penetrate the ground, as the Canal was sealed off and had layers of clay and other barriers that prevented the leachate and seepage of the chemicals that were placed into the site. I have seen both sides’ Legal Documents, and the Contracts affirmed that they were instructed to leave the ground untouched. Within six weeks they began to place water, sewage lines and roads directly on top of the Canal, and started building an Elementary School directrly on top of the Canal. Phosphates were collecting on kids’ trainers and the friction would act like a match to their shoes, and there was a horrid smell reported whenever it rained. Many children were receiving chemical burns because of the breach of the seal. On the Southern third of the Canal NYDOT began construction of the LaSalle Expressway in 1968, and when they began building this many 55-gallon drums of Dioxide, TCB, PCB, TECB, Phenols and a list of so many carcinogens chemicals were released, and NYDOT knew that the Canal was not supposed to be breached but ignored it, and that was when the leachate and seepage began to flow into the river and travelled down to Lake Erie. The Homes surrounding the Love Canal started to detect the foul stench from the seepage of these chemicals, and many would unknowlingly harm themselves and their children by washing down the walls in an attempt to get rid of the noxious odours that seeped through the cement blocks. Children, their parents and teachers began to become very ill. Many were diagnosed with dreadful Cancers, and nobody did anything, except Hooker wrote to the City, the School Board, NYDOT and the newly created NY State Department of Environmental Conservation to investigate this horrendous nightmare. They went to the Elementary School and to the homes, stareting with the homes closes to the Southern part of the Canal where the LaSalle Expressway is located, and the results were horrendous. Truly the stuff of nightmares, and then I had to go after the Insurance Companies, as they heard about what was happening to Hooker-Occidental from their Legal Department, and within weeks Rockefeller was able to have new Laws that changed the insurance Policies that were to be paid out by Hooker, which was then called Hooker Occidental, and stated that Insurance Companies did not have to pay out for any Insurance Policies with Petrochemical Companies if it involved Seepage and Leachate. The Law was enacted in Congress in 1968, the year that NY State started to rip through the Love Canal and allowed hundreds of 55-gallon drums filled with the nasty part of the Chemical Production. This Case might look like an open and closed case, but once you begin to scratch a bit deeper you get to see just how horrible our advances in scientific exploration and production can be once you scratch beneath the surface. Just think about the amount of chemicals that you use every day. Many of them are not as lovely as you don’t want to see, because that turns us all into culpable enablers, bercause we use strong chemicals in so many things and you don’t even realise that many of the items you use to wash with, prevent bugs from spoiling our crops and spreading on your carpets, curtains, toilets, paint and into your food to allow it to ’stay fresh’ for months is linked to these chemicals. Hooker-Occidentsl was forced to give the Love Canal to the City of Niagara Falls and their School Board, and they were warned and sighed an Agreement that clearly instructed a codicil to all parties to avoid touching or penetrating the ground on or near the Love Canal. The City of Niagara Falls deliberately violated the Agreement. When a petrochemical company repeatedly instructs you to leave the area untouched you are aware that you are not having something that’s optional. It’s name, Hooker Chemical Company, gives it away. This isn’t Hershey’s Chocolate Factory. As much as I agree with you that this tragedy is heartbreaking and something that I have dealt with for 30 years, This is not only Hooker’s Issue. This has its fingers fiemly with the City of Niagara Falls and it’s School Board, the Rockefeller, the 76 Insurance Companies that decided to change their Policies so they benefitted from the massive amount of money any petrochemical company must purchase in order to turn on a light bulb, let alone manufacture chemicals that are or can be extremely dangerous. I hsve fought hard regarding to challenge the intentional neglect and issues that fills me with rage, but the lessons from this is that there are times when we have seen the best and worst of Humanity displayed in this game. Do I believe that we must uphold EVERYONE to Best Practices, as this is so wrong no matter where you point your finger. I remember being on the phone, crying to the person that I have loved the most in my life about the pain that I felt from the Litigation that was my first Case. 1.3 MILLION Documents. More importantly was the hundreds of residents, and the suffering that I had to keep my composure for, as I wanted to save their lives and bring them something that resembled something like Justice. Having dealt with companies this big, and the Insurance Companies were amongst the most enraging matters that I have dealt with as a Litigation Officer to date.

[@sprkl5d]

What a great video! Wish it was longer, more in depth. Hope youll revisit here and do a longer video. You really captured the sentiment of this story.

[@Thomas-wb7hj]

Oh man I once walked home in the middle of the night from an ex gfs aunts house. I had to walk through this whole area. Very creepy at night. Let's just say that walk turned into a fast walk/run. At the time the summit park mall was still open so I didnt have to walk through two abandoned creepy areas to get home.

[@KristyNitro]

Hey Ace ! I was just a kid in the 90’s in that area…sad to see what it has become because in my day it looked like any neighborhood but it was my 1st glimpse into a ghost town and urban exploration before the wide spread of social media. So even though I have no pictures. Just imagine those roads clear of debris and houses as far as the eye could see . Some boarded up but most open for a teenager to use as playground for curiosity because even the locals never really talked about it.

[@duncanmacleod8754]

The Love Canal is the cherynobyl of Niagara County

[@brittanydoyle7556]

I grew up in Niagara Falls NY. This was already closed off by the time I was born in 90 but they definitely had abandoned houses that remained until unsafe structure then would knock it down. Me and my friends would walk through these streets at night as like a dare and thrill seek. It's strange how this place is scarier to walk down than east side of buffalo or Lyell in Rochester. The urban inner city streets haven't given me the same fear I experienced there. Idk how to explain it but it's a feeling. My aunt lives two streets from here on 92nd. As a kid it wasn't really talked about. I've learned more actual information from the internet than from growing up here. Most of the city of NF is now run down and shitty. I wouldn't want to live there again if someone paid me to. There's so much potential for that city it's a shame

[@sheismymom]

is your aunt still on 92nd street? I'm from across the river lol

[@norabouvier1568]

60 yrs old. grew up there. 19 surgeries and still shit going on from the chemicals. bury it

[@GaryGans]

I’m so very sorry, Nora. I did everything that I could to get you the maximum healthcare possible, as I have gone through chemo and radiotherapy. Nora what’s your maiden name? If you’re not comfortable I understand. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

[@dennisolof9994]

Nice video, now this was a real creepy place, walking around at night even more scary. For some reason, large abandoned areas with buildings and stuff is so creepy, all silent at night etc.

[@DavidSwick]

Dennis Olof I've driven through here a few years ago and you're right, it is so creepy as are the few that still live in there

[@mrnaji]

not too far from Summit Park Mall

[@krisone5253]

HOOKER LEFT BEHIND THE MESSS. IN LOUISVILLE KY WE HAVE A LOVE CANAL. IT'S ON RIVER ROAD. THE LANDFILL IS LEAKING FROM THE CLAY TOP SOIL.

[@austinwlock]

Well actually it wasn't all hookers fault.. It was more the money hungry city of Niagara falls's fault. They were going after hooker trying to buy that plot of land and coming after them with municipalities until finally hooker said fine we will sell it to you for 1$. And hooker specifically put the coordinates where it was contaminated and said don't build here. Well, the city decided to ignore those warnings and build anyway. What do you think is going to happen? At the time the way hooker was disposing of toxic waste was state of the art because everyone else was dumping their waste into the river.

[@GaryGans]

@@austinwlock Yes, and then the LaSalle Expressway was the reason why people suddenly started noticing the chemicals leaking through the bricks down in their cellars. NYDOT didn’t care about the drums full of nasty stuff and it all started spreading out and down towards Lake Erie and the Niagara River. I always tell people that you should never swim in Lake Erie, the Niagara River, Lake Ontario or the St Laurence Seaway. There’s going to be residue from that for 5-10,000 years. (I’m unable to give a more specific timeframe because the amouints that reached the waterways are impossible to determine the amount of each chemical that made it to the water. The Southern ⅓ of the Canal had a lot of chemicals that were stored in that section of the Canal, and Hooker granted permission to the Department of the Army during WW2. The Agreement between Hooker and the City of Niagara Falls could not have been more OBVIOUS about steering clear of the Love Canal, and with Hooker’s Maps with Coordinates throughout and around the Canal could not have been more obvious. For a while I thought about it as Bikini’s Revenge. They wee deliberately and repeatedly contaminated by Nuclear Bombs and other forms of Radiotherapy. They were a kind people that thought that the Americans were their friends after liberating them from the Japanese. They didn’t realise how wrong they were until it was too late.

[@harunal-muhajir5555]

I think A&E did a special about this place in the 90s.

[@mikey7mc]

That was the time to explore the Love Canal area. I still have an aunt that lives maybe a 10 minute walk from this area and I used to take the walk to the neighborhood in the 90s when all the abandoned houses were still there, standing and decaying. It would have been an urban explorers dream but that was before it was a thing.

[@jessekauffman3336]

We should prosecute these people no matter how long, how old, how many bankruptcies they filed

[@bigbrother2478]

Interesting Video!!!

[@yaritoguerito]

funny thing - although in this video you are featuring niagara falls, ny...but along the whole dead mall theme - going to the canadian side of niagara falls in november/december has the same strange creepy vibe as dead/dying malls or other places....i went for abour 3-4 years in a row (it became a strange custom with a few friends) to niagara falls between late october through early december for a long weekend. is totally crazy because all the tourist trap stuff is still open, but there is almost no one going into anything. so if you have been there during late spring/summer/early fall, you know how busy it typically is...then to see the contrast with it being a ghost town really is mind blowing

[@GLA45Amg716]

DisgustinglyBigBlackMean SonOfABitch the Canadian side is beautiful

[@vr6swp]

When I was in my teens, my family and I lived near the Basket Creek superfund site (Douglas Co GA). Basket Creek may have surpassed Love Canal in toxicity. The company who dumped the chemicals (a local refinery) and the county officials who were paid to play dumb for the EPA falsified documents and otherwise covered up the truth for going on 50 years. What was in the Basket Creek dump, and how much, may never be known.

[@tinytwo6739]

Emily was A wonderful lady. Lived there to the day she died

[@rickmiletic1376]

The video confused me. Who was the woman? it sounded like she said she lived in Canada, so what was she doing there?

[@wiretamer5710]

she moved...

[@genehasenbuhler2594]

Like nuclear waste- this will never go away! It has spread farther than they care to admit, and to develop any of this land for any reason is the dumbest idea since burrying it!

[@davemichael7742]

If the residents have red Stuff coming up in the Basement remember this..

[@RB-xm3ed]

The panic of 1983? LOL

[@roberthurd328]

I lived in the projects on 95th Street and I went to 93rd Street School right across from my yard I lived there in 1971-72 my friend contacted the EPA and New York I live in Colorado supposedly I've heard that there is aa reward for those who lived in that can someone tell me anything I have proof of my address there proof of postage that I live there I have a lot of handicaps and I do need help

[@norabouvier1568]

Contact the Waturs Krauss legal team in texas

[@roberthurd328]

@@norabouvier1568 I just got one of those letters from the people that you thought that would help me and they denied me I always get the same type of grad school letter and it doesn't matter where I go it's one of those things that governments going to bury in a back until some other country comes through here and rips everything out and then freaking comes out and say hey mister we found out that you've been screwed over by your government we're going to take care of that

[@roberthurd328]

@@norabouvier1568 but I did try to post the letter here so you can see it but there's no way I can and they won't allow it I guess but you can look on my Facebook page because I'm about to put it up there to the many that I've already got

[@GaryGans]

I’m very sorry to say this, Robert, but you have passed the cutoff date by decades. There could be exceptions, but I finished my Litigation regarding the Love Canal 28 years ago, more or less. When did you receive this letter? Waturs Krauss took over after Wolters Kluwer/Aspen Litigation. I no longer have any contacts that could help you in this matter.

[@roberthurd328]

@@GaryGans well you're just telling me I have bad luck like I normally have so other than that unless you got something positive to say I don't want to hear it I greatly appreciate the feedback cuz other than that I'm living in a living hell and I wish there was a nuclear bomb that went all around the United States and across the world that way it kills off about 78% of the people because that way I know I'm getting my money back

[@frankcapel9227]

I feel sorry for all the dead dogs or coyotes or whatever they are

[@DavidSwick]

You're nuts for walking on that land, you're sneakers are melting as you stand! :D I almost wouldn't drive on it cause I didn't want to contaminate my truck!

[@JustMeELC]

David Swick They are allowing development & people to move there now... say it's all cleaned up. I wouldn't trust it but people are

[@roberthurd328]

I grew up there on 95th and went to 93rd Street I would not recommend anyone living in that area cuz I have biological differences at this time and no one wants to explain to me why

[@wiretamer5710]

Id be more worried about the diesel fuels you are breathing in.

[@GaryGans]

@@JustMeELC Outside of the Second Ring. Why go there? Some people are idiots, as you are supposed to stay off of the grounds at Ring One and Two. Can you send a link, please?

[@krisone5253]

THEY HELD A CONCERT ON THE LANDFILL. LOUDER THAN LIFE! 2018. THEY BREACHED THE TOP SOIL AND THE MEMBRANE CAP OF THE LANDFILL. NOW IT'S LEAKING. THESE YOUNG KIDS ARE PLAYING SOCCER ON THIS LANDFILL!!!

[@salperagine831]

Somehow I think you are drastically wrong

[@GaryGans]

WHAT? I’ve got your number. Don’t go there.

[@krisone5253]

@@GaryGans YOU HAVE MY NUMBER BITCH COME AND FACE ME TOUGH GUY

[@krisone5253]

Yeah I didn't think so. You have my number. Get into Louisville Kentucky at the coal mines in WHITEBURGT. HAZARD KENTUCKY ✝️ WE WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU.

[@tinytwo6739]

They did not. And no kids play in the landfill it's completely Gated off with security. This area is a dump, the whole city. The government ruined it when they poisoned everyone.

[@krisone5253]

RIVER ROAD LANDFILL GOES BACK TO 1974 WHEN A TORNADO SWEPT OVER AND DESTROYED THE EAST SIDE OF THE TOWN.