ABSTRACT
Congress responded swiftly to Love Canal and to the specter of thousands of similarly abandoned hazardous waste dumps corroding the nation’s landscape. The public was frightened of unsuspected cancer-causing chemicals that might affect water supplies, homes, children, and communities as well as the natural environment. The attention paid to Love Canal and other early contamination sites produced a highly charged atmosphere. Members of Congress were not willing to gamble their political futures on predictions that the hazardous waste issue would go away anytime soon or that they could rely on the private sector to provide a full remedy. Congress sent a strong message to those responsible for generating toxic wastes in the first place by making the new law retroactive and by removing nearly all traditional legal immunities. Frequent and open communications between policymakers usually provide a catalyst to cooperation, and this was the experience at most of the six waste sites.
