NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y., March 18 (UPI) -- Love Canal, the most notorious toxic waste site in the United States, has been declared safe after 21 years and $400 million spent.
In the late 1970s when deadly chemicals began seeping into the basements of homes, 950 families were evacuated from the 10-block Niagara Falls, N.Y., neighborhood. The subdivision was built atop a 19th-century canal where a toxic mix of more than 80 industrial chemicals had been buried.
The declaration by the federal Environmental Protection Agency that took the area off the Superfund list of the worst environmental disasters represented a milestone for the agency, which was in its infancy when the cleanup began, the New York Times said Thursday.
About 260 homes north of the canal have been renovated and sold to new owners, and about 150 acres east of the canal have been sold to commercial developers for light industrial uses.
