in a meeting with Lois Gibbs years ago during the EPA doing "listening" sessions in Chicago for their upcoming proposed limits on some toxic chemicals and the waste regulations. I left before she spoke. About 25 people or so in the room. You could see the EPA personnel were just going through the motions. Several spoke before me and everything was just more or less low key and matter of fact.

At the time I was trapped with my neighbors in the living hell of residing on a toxic waste site that EPA had known about for years but withheld telling the residents. I come from the repressive '50's and the '60's civil rights/Vietnam/anti-draft years and I am not low key when being f**cked with. When it came my turn to speak I briefly told the story of Edna (not her real name) who had become a friend of mine before she died. I told about the things happening to her. I won't go further right now because it makes me cry. I said to the entire room that I was "old fashioned" about this stuff and I believed you need to let the powers that be know that you are going to raise hell. I said "Do you think EPA is lying to you? If so say Yes!!" The crowd responded loudly and you could see the EPA personnel squirm. I kept going for one or two more things each to be met with a "Yes" and the crowd got into it more each time. I finished by saying I had come to let them know about Edna and that we weren't going to take it. I left the room with people from other environmental nightmares around the country having been able to get some of that stress out there and expressed.

When things like this happen people have to raise hell and keep raising hell and don't accept the condescending pat on the head. Because these things follow a pattern and EPA and the companies are well rehearsed in how to defuse, deflect, deny and tell you there is no danger and that "everything is under control". Bullshit. You organize, you research, you bring in your own testing people, you bring in legal help when appropriate but don't you ever stop raising hell.

We were in Canada at Niagara Falls last week and I was looking at a map and there it was across the way: Love Canal. Sad to say I had forgotten all about it.

My brother was the engineer who designed/ signed off on
the containment facility.
He had been talking about going back to 'check it out ' after all those years but he didn't survive the first round of covid infections.

I got pulled in early (while flipping through channels). It’s very good.

I was also inspired watching all the moms become activists. There was lot I didn't know about Love Canal because at the time, I only picked up bits and pieces from the media. Well worth the watch.