1 00:00:01,300 --> 00:00:03,133 ARTHUR TRACY: I want to say something. 2 00:00:03,133 --> 00:00:06,233 I'm sure that God is not going to send me to hell, 3 00:00:06,233 --> 00:00:08,100 because I found it here on Earth. 4 00:00:08,100 --> 00:00:10,066 (crowd laughing and applauding) 5 00:00:10,066 --> 00:00:12,300 I'm 65 years old, almost. 6 00:00:12,300 --> 00:00:14,300 I'm sick and tired 7 00:00:14,300 --> 00:00:15,900 of being a yo-yo, 8 00:00:15,900 --> 00:00:18,133 pulled this way, pulled that way, 9 00:00:18,133 --> 00:00:19,566 pulled the other way! 10 00:00:19,566 --> 00:00:22,600 (crowd cheers and applauds) 11 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:28,833 Now, somebody's gonna say to me, "What do you want, Mr. Tracy, 12 00:00:28,833 --> 00:00:31,433 after 35 years in this Love Canal?" 13 00:00:31,433 --> 00:00:32,966 Well, I'll tell you what I want. 14 00:00:32,966 --> 00:00:36,166 Just give me my 28.5 15 00:00:36,166 --> 00:00:38,466 that you appraised my house for. 16 00:00:38,466 --> 00:00:39,566 WOMAN: All right! 17 00:00:39,566 --> 00:00:41,966 TRACY: All I want is my 28.5, 18 00:00:41,966 --> 00:00:43,366 and give it to me tonight, 19 00:00:43,366 --> 00:00:45,266 and I'll go down that road, 20 00:00:45,266 --> 00:00:48,200 and I'll never look back at the Love Canal again! 21 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:54,466 (crowd cheering and applauding) 22 00:00:54,466 --> 00:00:56,433 CROWD (chanting): We want out! 23 00:00:56,433 --> 00:00:59,566 We want out! We want out! 24 00:00:59,566 --> 00:01:01,966 We want out! 25 00:01:01,966 --> 00:01:05,000 We want out! We want out! 26 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:09,233 ♪ ♪ 27 00:01:09,233 --> 00:01:12,000 BONNIE CASPER (stammers): It was hard to believe. 28 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:14,700 This could not happen in the United States of America. 29 00:01:14,700 --> 00:01:17,366 REPORTER: For years, the Love Canal Homeowners Association 30 00:01:17,366 --> 00:01:19,366 has cited evidence of significant health problems 31 00:01:19,366 --> 00:01:20,666 in the neighborhood. 32 00:01:20,666 --> 00:01:22,266 REPORTER 2: Birth defects and miscarriages. 33 00:01:22,266 --> 00:01:23,566 REPORTER 3: Severe migraine headaches. 34 00:01:23,566 --> 00:01:25,233 REPORTER 4: Respiratory disease. 35 00:01:25,233 --> 00:01:27,666 WOMAN: Already eight cases of cancer on a 15-house street. 36 00:01:27,666 --> 00:01:29,633 WOMAN 2: I thought I just had problems with my one daughter, 37 00:01:29,633 --> 00:01:31,333 and we just found out in January 38 00:01:31,333 --> 00:01:34,233 our other one has rheumatoid arthritis. 39 00:01:34,233 --> 00:01:36,866 We have hearing problems with all the children. 40 00:01:36,866 --> 00:01:38,966 Uh, the baby, he has a deformed foot, 41 00:01:38,966 --> 00:01:41,533 so it's just, it's just constantly, still, 42 00:01:41,533 --> 00:01:43,366 running to the hospitals and children's hospital... 43 00:01:43,366 --> 00:01:46,633 CASPER: People were talking about how they were ill, 44 00:01:46,633 --> 00:01:49,733 but nobody exactly knew why they were so ill, 45 00:01:49,733 --> 00:01:51,966 or why so many people were so ill. 46 00:01:51,966 --> 00:01:53,733 REPORTER: Now, a quarter of a century after it went in, 47 00:01:53,733 --> 00:01:56,433 chemical waste is coming out of the ground, and it's... 48 00:01:56,433 --> 00:01:57,933 AMY HAY: People had no idea that they were 49 00:01:57,933 --> 00:02:02,066 living on top of 22,000 tons of toxic chemicals. 50 00:02:02,066 --> 00:02:05,100 REPORTER: Health experts found more than 80 dangerous chemicals 51 00:02:05,100 --> 00:02:06,366 oozing to the surface. 52 00:02:06,366 --> 00:02:07,766 JENNIFER THOMSON: All of a sudden, on a dime, 53 00:02:07,766 --> 00:02:09,800 everything blows up. 54 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:10,833 More people are sick. 55 00:02:10,833 --> 00:02:12,600 There's, you know, black sludge 56 00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:13,800 coming into their homes. 57 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:15,033 REPORTER: The family is afraid to even go 58 00:02:15,033 --> 00:02:16,733 in the basement because of high readings 59 00:02:16,733 --> 00:02:18,966 of an explosive chemical called toluene. 60 00:02:18,966 --> 00:02:20,766 RICHARD NEWMAN: Love Canal was the first 61 00:02:20,766 --> 00:02:24,266 chemical disaster to unfold before Americans' eyes. 62 00:02:24,266 --> 00:02:27,066 LOIS GIBBS (archival): We are dying, literally dying, from benzene. 63 00:02:27,066 --> 00:02:30,500 We're getting cancers from all these other compounds. 64 00:02:30,500 --> 00:02:32,766 Now you're talking about nerve gas-- there's just no way... 65 00:02:32,766 --> 00:02:35,266 (in interview): It's much worse than I even imagined. 66 00:02:35,266 --> 00:02:37,733 Certainly much worse than what the government is saying. 67 00:02:37,733 --> 00:02:39,933 Can you tell me when I'm not gonna lose any more children, 68 00:02:39,933 --> 00:02:40,966 because one is already dead? 69 00:02:40,966 --> 00:02:42,433 Please tell me those things. 70 00:02:42,433 --> 00:02:43,933 PATTI GRENZY: It really hit it home for us 71 00:02:43,933 --> 00:02:46,266 that, at this point, we're on our own. 72 00:02:46,266 --> 00:02:48,000 We have to make this happen. 73 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:50,000 They're not gonna do it for us. 74 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:52,233 So, that spurred me to want to do something. 75 00:02:52,233 --> 00:02:54,366 We've got to do something. I mean, the fight came to us. 76 00:02:54,366 --> 00:02:55,900 We didn't look for it. 77 00:02:55,900 --> 00:02:58,566 Each and every one of you in this room are murderers. 78 00:02:58,566 --> 00:03:02,100 You're a bunch of sick, sadistic people! 79 00:03:02,100 --> 00:03:05,933 PATTI GRENZY: They looked at us as hysterical housewives, 80 00:03:05,933 --> 00:03:08,000 and they figured, "Oh, well, they'll give up. 81 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:10,733 "They'll go back to their knitting, 82 00:03:10,733 --> 00:03:13,466 and to their babies, and this will blow over." 83 00:03:13,466 --> 00:03:15,500 But we were stronger than that. 84 00:03:15,500 --> 00:03:16,700 ♪ ♪ 85 00:03:16,700 --> 00:03:18,300 NEWMAN: This incredible group 86 00:03:18,300 --> 00:03:22,900 of women become the faces of environmental reform. 87 00:03:22,900 --> 00:03:24,366 But there was absolutely no road map. 88 00:03:24,366 --> 00:03:25,933 BARBARA QUIMBY: I'm sick of being a guinea pig. 89 00:03:25,933 --> 00:03:26,966 I want out. 90 00:03:26,966 --> 00:03:28,766 Test me later, but my God, 91 00:03:28,766 --> 00:03:30,100 get me out now and my kids. 92 00:03:30,100 --> 00:03:31,100 THOMSON: The fear was that 93 00:03:31,100 --> 00:03:32,733 it could happen to all of us. 94 00:03:32,733 --> 00:03:35,033 And the thing was, it was happening to other people, 95 00:03:35,033 --> 00:03:37,600 in places throughout the country. 96 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:39,700 REPORTER: The Love Canal is merely the tip of a dangerous 97 00:03:39,700 --> 00:03:42,400 and terrifying chemical iceberg. 98 00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:43,600 I am not moving 99 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:46,700 until I get an answer why. 100 00:03:46,700 --> 00:03:48,166 (in interview): I wasn't thinking about building 101 00:03:48,166 --> 00:03:49,366 a movement or anything like that. 102 00:03:49,366 --> 00:03:51,566 I was thinking about survival. 103 00:03:51,566 --> 00:03:52,933 (crowd jeering) 104 00:03:52,933 --> 00:03:54,533 How do we get out of here? 105 00:03:54,533 --> 00:03:58,666 We need to do something, and I don't care what it takes. 106 00:04:02,533 --> 00:04:05,533 (projector whirring) 107 00:04:05,533 --> 00:04:10,233 ♪ ♪ 108 00:04:10,233 --> 00:04:14,833 QUIMBY: It was just such a nice neighborhood. 109 00:04:14,833 --> 00:04:18,633 To a child, oh, my goodness, we had fun there. 110 00:04:20,433 --> 00:04:23,100 A lot of times, we would just be more near the school, 111 00:04:23,100 --> 00:04:24,966 playing baseball or something, 112 00:04:24,966 --> 00:04:27,133 but we always ended up where the, 113 00:04:27,133 --> 00:04:29,200 what we called the Black Lagoon. 114 00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:31,900 (camera shutter clicks) 115 00:04:31,900 --> 00:04:35,066 PATTI GRENZY: On the surface, it had, like, an oily substance to it, 116 00:04:35,066 --> 00:04:37,533 like, a, a green and a blue. 117 00:04:37,533 --> 00:04:38,733 (shutter clicks) 118 00:04:38,733 --> 00:04:41,300 And if you dropped something into it, 119 00:04:41,300 --> 00:04:43,433 it would bubble up and sink. 120 00:04:43,433 --> 00:04:45,266 So we called it quicksand. 121 00:04:47,333 --> 00:04:49,866 QUIMBY: It was like a wonderland. 122 00:04:49,866 --> 00:04:53,133 We had these rocks that we called pop rocks. 123 00:04:53,133 --> 00:04:57,100 And we used to just slide them across, 124 00:04:57,100 --> 00:05:00,200 and they would actually have a flame. 125 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:04,766 It was like fire. 126 00:05:04,766 --> 00:05:08,833 And, oh, I remember, my mother always yelled about our shoes. 127 00:05:08,833 --> 00:05:11,400 This one time, she had bought me new sneakers. 128 00:05:11,400 --> 00:05:14,800 And I came home, and she said, 129 00:05:14,800 --> 00:05:18,800 "What? It looks like your sneakers are burnt. 130 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:21,800 "What happened to all the rubber around it? 131 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:23,866 "You're not getting new sneakers. 132 00:05:23,866 --> 00:05:24,933 What are you doing?" 133 00:05:24,933 --> 00:05:27,533 "I'm just playing at the school." 134 00:05:27,533 --> 00:05:32,033 (laughing): I mean, nobody went and investigated and said, 135 00:05:32,033 --> 00:05:34,500 "Why are these shoes burnt?" 136 00:05:34,500 --> 00:05:38,933 ♪ ♪ 137 00:05:38,933 --> 00:05:40,533 GIBBS: I found the house on 101st Street, 138 00:05:40,533 --> 00:05:43,500 the one in the Love Canal neighborhood. 139 00:05:43,500 --> 00:05:45,266 It was starter homes for the most part. 140 00:05:45,266 --> 00:05:46,966 (dog barking in distance) 141 00:05:46,966 --> 00:05:49,400 And it was the perfect neighborhood, 142 00:05:49,400 --> 00:05:51,566 from my perspective. 143 00:05:51,566 --> 00:05:55,600 It had the Niagara River to the south. 144 00:05:55,600 --> 00:05:57,400 To the north was a creek, 145 00:05:57,400 --> 00:05:59,233 and the kids could go and walk along the creek 146 00:05:59,233 --> 00:06:00,800 and pick up pollywogs, or... 147 00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:02,666 You know, it was just a cute, little, 148 00:06:02,666 --> 00:06:06,200 very shallow creek, good for children. 149 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:09,166 We moved in with Michael, who was one years old by then, 150 00:06:09,166 --> 00:06:13,333 a healthy little boy, and, and then we had our little girl. 151 00:06:13,333 --> 00:06:14,800 (camera shutter clicking) 152 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:19,666 I really believed I achieved so much. 153 00:06:19,666 --> 00:06:22,200 I had this house and a husband who was gainfully employed 154 00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:23,966 and these beautiful children. 155 00:06:23,966 --> 00:06:26,233 Everything seemed to be fine. 156 00:06:28,266 --> 00:06:31,300 DEBBIE CERRILLO CURRY: Love Canal was government-subsidized. 157 00:06:31,300 --> 00:06:34,666 My husband wasn't making very much money, 158 00:06:34,666 --> 00:06:41,066 and they made that a very tasty little deal to move into. 159 00:06:41,066 --> 00:06:45,600 We paid $135 a month to live in a brand-new home, 160 00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:48,766 which was really unusual. 161 00:06:48,766 --> 00:06:51,633 I wasn't going to question it. 162 00:06:51,633 --> 00:06:57,466 And so we felt quite lucky that we fell in at the right time. 163 00:06:57,466 --> 00:06:59,766 I lived in Niagara Falls all my life. 164 00:06:59,766 --> 00:07:02,300 And when I married, my husband was from Niagara Falls. 165 00:07:02,300 --> 00:07:04,666 We had two boys. 166 00:07:04,666 --> 00:07:09,000 We saw this beautiful brick house in Love Canal 167 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:11,866 with one acre of land all around it. 168 00:07:11,866 --> 00:07:16,033 And it sat on a creek, and it was just, 169 00:07:16,033 --> 00:07:18,100 it was just ideal, and we were thinking, 170 00:07:18,100 --> 00:07:20,100 "What a place to raise your children." 171 00:07:22,033 --> 00:07:25,466 JANNIE GRANT-FREENEY: I moved to the development called Griffon Manor. 172 00:07:25,466 --> 00:07:28,700 It was a brand-new housing project. 173 00:07:28,700 --> 00:07:30,633 It's a beautiful place. 174 00:07:30,633 --> 00:07:34,600 Flowers, the grass was green. 175 00:07:34,600 --> 00:07:36,300 There was, like, a little pond 176 00:07:36,300 --> 00:07:37,966 that the kids used to play in, 177 00:07:37,966 --> 00:07:40,433 and had trees and all of that, 178 00:07:40,433 --> 00:07:43,300 and they would swing on the branches and what have you. 179 00:07:45,366 --> 00:07:47,766 CAROL JONES: We had a small yard in the front, 180 00:07:47,766 --> 00:07:51,600 and in the back, we would see-- I'm gonna call it water-- 181 00:07:51,600 --> 00:07:54,433 but swampland that just looked oily. 182 00:07:54,433 --> 00:07:56,100 (slide shifts) 183 00:07:56,100 --> 00:07:58,533 At times, it smelled like burnt rubber 184 00:07:58,533 --> 00:08:01,066 or a strong cleanser. 185 00:08:01,066 --> 00:08:05,466 It was just a foul, foul odor. 186 00:08:05,466 --> 00:08:07,700 Often, enough to choke you. 187 00:08:09,300 --> 00:08:11,133 But we didn't pay that any attention. 188 00:08:11,133 --> 00:08:14,800 It was normal to us to smell these smells. 189 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:16,166 (slide shifts) 190 00:08:16,166 --> 00:08:17,500 CURRY: People always knew 191 00:08:17,500 --> 00:08:19,766 when they were getting close to our home, 192 00:08:19,766 --> 00:08:24,266 because we had this horrendous smell behind our house. 193 00:08:24,266 --> 00:08:26,433 Actually, the whole neighborhood. 194 00:08:26,433 --> 00:08:30,400 REPORTER: The mailman even carries a gas mask on his delivery route. 195 00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:32,000 MAILMAN: It smells like hell. 196 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:34,700 You got that one house at 510 99th Street. 197 00:08:34,700 --> 00:08:37,466 It's one of the worst smells I ever had around here 198 00:08:37,466 --> 00:08:41,466 in a long, long time-- it's terrible.