The Cercla also known as Superfund is a law that was enacted by congress with taxed petroleum and chemical companies in case of any clean ups. It also enabled federal authority to respond to releases or any threatened releases that may cause hard to people or the environment. The three basic ideals this law carried out was to created a trust fund in case someone was not held responsible, provided a liability for anyone who was responsible for a chemical waste and it established restrictions on closed and abandoned waste sites. Two major chemical waste disasters led to the enactment of this law. The first was the love canal. The canal was a man made canal with the original plan to make it generate cheap electricity. That never came about so Hooker chemicals bought the property. They then began dumping tons of chemical waste and it accumulated to over 21,000 tons. Hooker chemicals then covered up the canal with layers of dirty compressing it and making it like clay. It was sold to niahra school board. The residents and the school built in the neighborhood began to feel the effects of the waste. Strange diseases such as epilepsy and birth defects began to appear.
The next disaster was the Valley of the Drums. Paint and coating companies began to dump drums of chemicals in this valley located in Bullit County, Kentucky. Farmers near by began to complain about the smell, and this was due to the releases of the toxic wastes. Nothing could've been done because there were no regulations that opposed this. After the years went by, a fire started which lasted a week. This caused attention by officials but again nothing could be done due to the lack of regulations.
The United States is divided into ten superfund regions. In our state of New Jersey, there are over
291 sites. One in specific is located in South Plainfield NJ called Cornell-Dubilier Electrinics. They began disposing PCB waste in the ground, thus polluting the solid, sediments and groundwater. It is still in the process of being cleaned.
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