A Judge Orders Company to Pay Love Canal Cost
Published: February 24, 1988
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y., Feb. 23— A Federal judge today found the Occidental Chemical Corporation responsible for the multimillion-dollar cost of cleaning up the Love Canal landfill.
In a victory for the New York State and Federal Governments, the judge, John T. Curtin of Federal District Court, granted a partial summary judgment, deciding that Occidental was liable under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980.
''It is beyond dispute that O.C.C.'s disposal practices were at least partially responsible for the release, or threatened release, of the chemicals from the Love Canal landfill,'' he said.
The judge ruled that Occidental both produced the toxic wastes and stored them in a way that would eventually result in toxic leakage.
A spokesman for Occidental, James Green, said the company would not comment on Judge Curtin's decision until its lawyers had read the 36-page ruling. Liability Left Open
The amount of the liability was left open. When the Federal Government filed the Love Canal action in December 1979, it demanded $45 million, but the next year the state sued for $635 million. The eventual figure will depend on actual cleanup costs.
The Federal, state and local governments can recover from Occidental the costs of dealing with Love Canal both before and after a Federal environmental liability law was enacted in 1980, Judge Curtin said.
The judge said Congress enacted the 1980 law to compel the waste disposal industry ''to correct its past mistakes and to provide a solution for the dangers posed by inactive abandoned waste sites.''
Between 1942 and 1953, the Hooker Chemicals and Plastics Corporation, which became part of the Occidental Chemical Corporation, disposed of at least 21,800 tons of chemical wastes in Love Canal.
In 1953, the canal was covered over and houses were built nearby. In 1978, after years of health complaints from residents of the neighborhoods, the state investigated and declared a health emergency. Hundreds of homes were evacuated.