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Stony Hearts and Love
The
story of Love Canal,
New York, is an
interesting example of how
human nature works to
create an environmental
tragedy.
An Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA)
study has turned up an
abnormally high incidence of
serious genetic damage
among a sample of area
residents. The miscarriage
rate among women almost
tripled from what it was
befare they moved in. And
informal surveys by area
residents show an incredibly
high rate of abnormal
pregnancies by women who
gave birth in recent
years.
In the late 1800s,
entrepreneur William Love
began the project of digging
a hydroelectric canal in the
Niagara Falls area. The
project was later
abandoned, but not befare
a 3,200-foot section had
been dug. lt was in this
section that the Hooker
Chemical Company, as well
as the U.S. Army, dumped
thousands of 55-gallon
drums containing toxic
wastes beginning in World
War 11 . Hooker claims that
soil in the area-
impermeable clay-
made the canal a wise
choice for a dump site.
In 1953, Hooker sold the
property to the local school
24
board for $1 . There is sorne
dispute over whether, befare
the sale, Hooker covered
the dump with clay or just a
combination of fly ash and
dirt. There is also sorne
mystery as to why Hooker
sold out so cheaply.
Eric Zuesse, writing an
article basically favorable to
Hooker in
Reason
magazine,
February, 1981 , speculates
that the company's decision
lo
deed over
the property
instead of letting it be taken
by threat of condemnation by
the school board was an act
of concern for future owners.
By deeding over the
property, the company was
able to put a warning in the
deed itself
of the risk of the
toxic waste dumped on the
property,
as we/1 as
try to
absolve itself of responsibility
for the site. The deed states
that the buyer " assumes all
risk and liability incident to
the use" of the property. lt
also recites that the buyer
(school board) has been
"advised" that the site was
used for chemical dumping.
In any case, the local
school board took over the
property in 1953. Mr. Zuesse
points out that on severa!
occasions since 1953 there
was construction in the dump
area that disturbed the
waste, possibly causing it to
escape. In 1953 and 1954,
dirt.was removed from the
canal to be used as fill at a
/
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/
/
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What they do show is that
Canal
everyone assumed
responsibility for the dump
site was
someone else's
job.
In this world, in which man
school construction site
has turned his back on his
elsewhere. In 1957, city
Maker, personal legal
workers installed a. sewer
responsibility works as a
through the canal, puncturing substituta for genuine love.
the walls and clay cover.
The legal system assumes
(Whether chemicals were
people will act out of fear of a
buried at that exact location
policeman coming and
is not revealed.)
putting them in jail or taking
In 1960, the school board
away their property, but not
gave part of the canal to the
necessarily because of a
city and the rest was sold to
genuine concern for others
a prívate person in 1962,
as human beings.
who was unable to develop
In this world, it takes
the property because he
ownership to create a
could not get a building
measure of responsibility. In
permit. In 4968, the canal
a better world soon to come,
was again disturbed, this time love would do the
to build an expressway and
same-only better. lnstead
work on a street adjacent to
of endless court fights trying
the property.
to pin the blame on sorne
The point of these facts is
hapless party, all parties
not to fix blame (the courts
concerned would have tried
will have plenty of time for
to do right by their fellow man
that) but to point out that the
from the beginning.
responsibility
for the care and
In the World Tomorrow,
good management of the
people's hearts will be
Love Canal dump site was
changed. In that future world,
just too fuzzy. Just as
God told the prophet
communal kitchens often
Jeremiah,
"1
will put my law in
become dirty messes
their inward parts, and write it
because its users figure
in their hearts" (Jer. 31 :33).
someone else will clean up
In a similar message given to
after them, no individual or
the prophet Ezekiel, God
group of individuals felt
said,
" 1
will take away the
personal/y
responsible for the stony heart out of your flesh ,
good care of the dangerous,
and
1
will give you an heart of
toxic dump at Love Canal.
flesh. And
1
will put my spirit
Was Hooker's warning on the within you ... " (Ez.
deed good enough to
36:26-27). Such a world will
absolve it of responsibility?
not need legions of property
How much exactly did the
lawyers and judges to
school board know about the straighten out what would
dump? These questions are
never have been allowed to
all grist for the legal mili.
happen in the first place.
The
PLAIN TRUTH