Miscarriages were found to have increased 300%, for example, and most occurred in women who lived in the historically wet areas. From 1974 to 1978, 56% of the children in the Love Canal neighborhood were born with a birth defect, including three ears, a double row of teeth, and mental retardation.

The Love Canal incident became a symbol of improperly stored chemical waste. Clean up of Love Canal, which was funded by Superfund and completely finished in 2004, involved removing contaminated soil, installing drainage pipes to capture contaminated groundwater for treatment, and covering it with clay and plastic.

The cleanup at the toxic waste site, the nation’s most notorious, took 21 years and cost close to $400 million, but most of the work was completed a few years ago.

The positive effect that came out of this environmental disaster is that a blue collar community with few resources can win its fight for justice and open the eyes of the nation and the world to the serious problems of environmental chemicals and their effects on public health.

Eventually, Love Canal became a national issue. Television news covered the protests and showed the black, toxic sludge that oozed into residents’ basements. Due to the actions of Gibbs and the Love Canal Homeowners Association, President Jimmy Carter signed the Superfund bill into law on December 11, 1980.

Municipal wastes, as well as some fly ash fill, were deposited in the canal. Reports that the federal government buried radioactive material at the Love Canal have not been substantiated….Toxicological Investigation.

The federal Superfund program was created by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) in December 1980 in response to serious threats across the country posed by toxic waste sites.

The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986, known as Title III of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA), now mandates that every facility using, storing, or manufacturing hazardous chemicals make public its inventory and report every release of a hazardous chemical to public …

It allows EPA to clean up contaminated sites. It also forces the parties responsible for the contamination to either perform cleanups or reimburse the government for EPA-led cleanup work. When there is no viable responsible party, Superfund gives EPA the funds and authority to clean up contaminated sites.

The states with the most Superfund sites were New Jersey (113 sites), California (97 sites) and Pennsylvania (95 sites). The states with the fewest Superfund sites were North Dakota (no sites), Nevada (one site) and South Dakota (two sites).

The Toxics Cleanup Program (TCP) works to remedy these situations, which range from cleaning up leaking underground storage tanks, to large complex projects requiring engineered solutions. Property owners can learn how to clean up polluted properties, redevelop brownfields, and manage underground storage tanks.

The Superfund Trust Fund provides tax money to pay the Federal share of site cleanups, but whenever possible EPA forces those responsible for contaminating a site to clean it up. Sharing Cleanup Costs Businesses often create Superfund sites by improperly disposing of hazardous wastes.

The major negatives are the excessive time and cost related to federal Superfund remedial studies and actions. The overall program has emphasized process over cost-effective cleanup activities, with the result that the average site cleanup costs approximately $25 to $30 million.

By law, the parties responsible for the use, transportation, storage, and disposal of hazardous substances and oil are liable for costs. This liability applies to the cost of containment, cleanup, and damages resulting from a release related to their own activities.

(1972) The Clean Water Act (CWA) establishes the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States and regulating quality standards for surface waters. Industrial, municipal, and other facilities must obtain permits if their discharges go directly to surface waters.

increases in ground-level ozone pollution, linked to asthma and other respiratory illnesses; and. extreme weather events that can lead to deaths, injuries, and stress-related illnesses.

Fifty years ago, the United States Congress passed the 1970 Clean Air Act. This act has resulted in improved air quality across the country. But despite the success of the Clean Air Act in controlling common pollutants, air pollution continues to be our single biggest environmental health risk today.

160,000 lives

After the Clean Air Act’s first 20 years, in 1990, it prevented more than 200,000 premature deaths, and almost 700,000 cases of chronic bronchitis were avoided. Through continued innovation and successful implementation, the Clean Air Act will deliver even more benefits over the next 40 years.

The analysis finds that the Clean Air Act regulations will reduce in air pollution and create sizeable health benefits. The annual costs of the regulations analyzed in the study increase from $20 billion in the year 2000 to $65 billion by 2020.

The Clean Air Act was passed to reduce the impacts of air pollution on both environmental and human health. It requires the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to regulate and monitor atmospheric emissions and toxic pollutants that pose a risk to public health. Mercury emissions have been reduced by 45% since 1990.

Today, as in the past, the Clean Air Act continues to cut pollution and protect the health of American families and workers. Fewer premature deaths and illnesses means Americans experience longer lives, better quality of life, lower medical expenses, fewer school absences, and better worker productivity.

The Clean Air Act has proven a remarkable success. In its first 20 years, more than 200,000 premature deaths and 18 million cases of respiratory illness in children were prevented.

The Clean Air Act has helped: cut ground-level ozone, a dangerous component of smog, by more than 25 percent since 1980; reduce mercury emissions by 45 percent since 1990; reduce the lead content in gasoline, which has cut lead air pollution by 92 percent since 1980.

The enactment of the Clean Air Act of 1970 (1970 CAA) resulted in a major shift in the federal government’s role in air pollution control. This legislation authorized the development of comprehensive federal and state regulations to limit emissions from both stationary (industrial) sources and mobile sources.