In 1953, Hooker chemical sold a piece of land that was used as a chemical waste dump to the Niagara falls school district for the purpose of building a school on. Knowing full well of the risks, the school district bought the land for one dollar and agreed to release hooker of all liabilities from the contamination. With the soil disturbed by building,  the entire property, along with residential neighborhoods around it become contaminated causing a plethora of health problems. The contamination at the love canal was the catalyst for the creation of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act.

Minamata disease, Minamata Japan

Starting in 1908 The Chisso Corporation began producing fertilizers in Minamata, and later industrial chemicals such as acetylene and acetic acid. Unfortunately, like most chemical corporations of the era, they drained their waste into the closest body of water. In this case Minamata Bay. in 1956, after many years of dumping their waste, local residents started to come down with a myriad of symptoms ranging from numbness, loss of vision, comas, and even death. Upon investigating the cause of this outbreak, researchers identified mercury poisoning as the cause due to bio accumulation in local sea life that was the primary food source for the local population. Sadly it took 12 years for the Japanese government to finally admit the cause, by which time thousands had been exposed, and many had died. In 2001, the official total of victims had exceeded 2,100 with 1,784  already dead from exposure.

Hanford Nuclear Plant

Combine 1940′s environmental ignorance and the worlds first large scale nuclear power plant, and what you have is a recipe for disaster. As part of the Manhattan project, a secret facility was built in Washington State on the Columbia river to produce the Plutonium for the first atom bombs. During it’s early years, cooling water was drawn into the plant, then after only six hours was released back into the Columbia river. Releasing as much as 50,000 curies per day. On top of that, radioactive waste was released into the air in such large amounts that it spread as far as Oregon, Montana, and Idaho. During the cold war, Hanford was responsible for the majority of the plutonium used for the entire US nuclear arsenal, which resulted in 53 million gallons of radioactive waste that has still yet to be cleaned up.

Bhopal Disaster

In December of 1984, the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal India suffered a catastrophic failure that resulted in the release of 42 tonnes of methyl isocyanate gas. Over 2,200 people died that night, with thousands more dying over the next 72 hours. Today, it is estimated that over 25,000 have died from exposure to the gas leak. After many lawsuits, Union Carbide still has not cleaned up the remains of the plant, and close to 400 tonnes of chemicals remain at the facility.

Three Mile Island

On March 29th 1979, a partial core meltdown occurred at Three Mile Island nuclear power plant due to poorly trained staff. Over 13 million curies of radioactive gas were released into the air, making this the largest nuclear disaster in US history. Due to this event, nuclear power plant production in the US came to an almost complete halt, and to this day has not regained the popularity nuclear power once had.

Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill

On the night of December 22nd 2008, the Kingston fossil plants retention pond which contained 1.1 billion gallons of coal ash slurry broke, covering over 300 acres with up to six feet of slurry. Much of it also went down local rivers contaminating the water supply and killing wildlife. As of June of this year, only three percent has been cleaned up, and it is estimated that it could take years, and billions of dollars to remove it all.

Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

In March of 1989 the Exxon Valdez, a one thousand food long oil tanker struck Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound Alaska resulting in release of 10.8 million gallons of crude oil. As many as 500,000 sea birds, 250 bald eagles, 1,000 otters, 22 orca whales, and billions of salmon died from the spill which in the end covered over 11,000,000 square miles. To this day, wildlife has not recovered, and tens of thousands of gallons of crude oil are still contaminating prince William sound.

Chernobyl

Photo By Carl Montgomery

Without a doubt the worst environmental disaster of all time. Chernobyl released so much radioactive material that it was recorded as far away as Ireland. 56 people died as a direct result of the blast, with conservative figures stating 4,000 will die from cancer. Parts of the ‘zone of alienation’ are the most polluted of any on earth, and can still give off fatal doses of radiation if one was to spend enough time in them. To this day, the reactor has not been decontaminated and poses a serious risk if it was to collapse.

By Mark Johnson