Monday, April 8, 2013

Love Canal Report Douglas Mackay

Douglas Mackay


I posted an article about the Deepwater Horizon Oil spill that happened in 2012 and the Youtube videos of Love Canal.  I ask for people responses and here they are:
1.      Wow....I am completely amazed that there wasn't better protection placed over those toxins in the first place. Second I can't believe that the school and other officials would try to deny that there was nothing wrong, did they think that these people were making this whole thing up.  Also while I appreciate that they have tried to make the area safe again, I do not think that I will ever move to that area. Even though it might be safe now I don't believe that it will be safe later
2.  
    Ok, here's my reaction. I'm going to go bury some toxic waste, cover it with a baby wipe, a reflective plastic plate, and some grass and call it good!  No seriously though, the first thing I thought of was wow, the local enforcement wouldn't do anything, the POTUS had to sign two declarations to get things moving.  Although they are trying to use modern technology to better the situation, I still don't think I would move my family to the area. The little boy that had so many health issues was just sad. I know So Cal is not perfect and we have our own environmental issues, but I could not knowingly move my family there.  I am also amazed that this is the first time I heard about this issue, which makes me sad. I think of the Falls as this beautiful area in our country that people flock to, I never imagined there was such an issue there.
3.      So I am amazed that while the original purchasers of the land were told what was below the canal no effort appeared to be made to communicate that to the future purchasers of parcels of land. While this disaster is horrible, I would think that everything that happened there lead to some of the regulations we have today.
4.      Understanding that I was about your age when this happened, my first reaction was I still in disbelief that these companies didn't think that the dumping of such waste would not be harmful. They obviously knew because they were quick to sell the property for just $1 to a school and for added measure added a clause to "inform" of a potential problem. As part of the public at that time we were trusting of our officials and business. I took a lot to get our officials to recognize and for someone to finally take responsibility for the greed of businesses who just wanted to make as much as they could as easily as they could. Sadly I don't think we have changed that much.
5.      What a horrible situation for those people living in that area! I think especially back then and even now, that many people don't think of the consequences of their actions, as long as they are the ones benefitting! I cannot believe that the school bought the land for $1 (indicating that there was something wrong and knowing of the toxins referenced in the sale). first of all i don't understand why they even went through with the purchase and second i don't understand why they didn't do more research. This should make everyone want to be involved and aware of what goes on in their community!!
6.      This isn't the first time that greed was a reason to put people in harm. Red flag when a company sells property to a school for $1.00. Yes the people were so warned, however the responsibility goes back to the company that purchased the land. Results of their actions and decisions have cost a lot of money and health issues. EPA has probably stepped up their efforts because of this situation at Love Canal but sometimes it doesn't seem like anything has changed. For people to reside there is a scarey thought after all that has happened. I don't think anyone can really be assured of their safety.
7.      Ummm, I'm not sure if you want my first reaction. Maybe not even my top 5. I still can't believe anyone could deny that there was a problem when black gunk was coming out of the ground, even though the asphalt. Or that no one put up any red flags when the land was sold for a dollar. Or that when it was sold, they were told about the chemicals, but didn't pass on that knowledge to the future homeowners. Or that a glorified tarp is really the best long term solution for containing the pollution. Or that the phrase, "some man named Tesla" was uttered. That was almost unforgivable, but not as much as describing the substance as both "taffy-like" and "watery." I wanted to punch that guy for being a moron. In seriousness, I think that hurting or endangering the life of a child is the most vile and despicable thing any human being can do on this earth. The company knew the buyers were looking to build a school. The school knew there was poison in the ground. How could they move forward with their plans? Why didn't anyone ever ask, "if this poison is bad enough that we are burying it to get it away from us, should we really be building schools and houses on it?" I'm never going to buy a house in new construction without a full geological survey now.
8.      I can’t believe that the school denied that something was wrong. Also it seems that the residents were not even warned when moving there about the potential problem. It makes sense to me that the company who originally dumped the chemicals at the time was doing nothing illegal but that they wanted to liquidate the land as a assets so the sold it with little warning then the developers choose not to warn the home owners because they wanted to make a profit off the land as fast as they could. So money and greed came before the concern over other human individuals and in this case the also the safety of children. in all honesty i am not surprised that what happened there at love canal did in fact happened but what happened was extremely moral wrong between the parties of the school, home/land developed and seller, in relation to the individual home owners
9.      Sad. Just one long stream of poor decisions. Dear Hooker, could you at least put the stuff in sealed barrels the next time you decide to dump somewhere? And to the school official, please learn that buying land with known problems for a buck wasn't your best decisions ever.
10.  Oh my goodness. Hi, let's sell this land quickly when we know there is toxic waste underneath the ground. They may not have known exactly what that meant, but they knew that it was there. And then when everyone was denying that there was a problem that was the biggest problem. When you ignore concerns, you only make things worse for yourself in the long run; I would think they would have wanted to avoid a lawsuit. Of course it was a different time, then. And now it's still there? There has to be a different way to deal with the problem. Ick ick ick.
Were you aware that environmental tragedies of this magnitude still exist today?  I was not aware that tragedies of this magnitude still existed. It kind of scares me to know that they still do.  It also reminds me of the importance of Public health and taking care of our environment.  Things like this should not happen. Greed should never hurt other people.  We human beings should be better.
Why should we care about something that happened over 30 years ago? It is important to learn the mistakes of the past in order to not repeat them in the future.  We need to protect people from these dangers and tragedies because it is terrible for anyone to have to go through that.  There is a lot that we can learn from past mistakes to keep them from not happening again. I.E. no more Love Canals.
In your opinion are environmental hazards something we should be concerned about on a daily basis.  Yes, daily prevention is what is going to keep our environment safe.  We need to watch, monitor, and maintenance. Our environment is important.  We are the stewards of this earth and we should take care of it.  We have a responsibility to protect the earth as well as each other. 

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