Where Not to Build Your House

If you like breathing fresh air, drinking clean water, and keeping clear of toxic chemicals, then you don't want to buy or build your new home in Atlanta, Ga., despite the low prices that resulted from the burst housing boom bubble. Atlanta is the number one most toxic city, according to a Business Week report released several months ago. Business Week polled all the major American cities to find out the ten most toxic and least toxic cities in the United States. The cities were ranked according to air quality, access to clean water, and proximity to toxic waste Superfund sites. They are as follows:

Most Toxic Cities 

1. Atlanta-Marietta
2. Detroit-Warren-Livonia
3. Chicago-Naperville-Joliet
4. Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown
5. Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington
6. Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor
7. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana
8. Jacksonville
9. Baltimore-Towson
10. Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton
 

Least Toxic Cities

1. Las Vegas-Paradise
2. Sacramento--Arden-Arcade-Roseville
3. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario
4. Austin-Round Rock
5. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue
6. San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos
7. Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News
8. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara
9. New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island
10. Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale

Love Canal and Today's Superfund Sites

Love Canal is the name of a neighborhood in Niagara Falls, NY and the site of one of the first nationally recognized toxic emergencies in the United States. In 1953, Hooker Chemical Company agreed to sell a tract of land that was known to be a dumpsite for 21,000 tons of chemicals buried in the ground. The land was purchased by the local school system, which began building the 99th Street School the next year. The City of Niagara Falls also began construction on lands adjacent to the dumpsite in an effort to build a sewer system for future low-income and single-family homes. The construction breached the clay cover that was supposed to prevent the toxic chemicals from leaking into the ground, water, and air. For the next 20 odd years, schoolchildren and Love Canal residents were exposed to dangerous levels of toxic waste, which resulted in a high rate of illnesses, birth defects, and miscarriages. Fifty-six percent of the children born between 1974 and 1978 were born with birth defects, according to a survey conducted by the Love Canal Home Owners Association. Locally grown fruits and vegetables were also infected with high levels of toxicity.

This went unmonitored until reporters from the Niagara Gazette drew attention to the environmental hazards of the area in 1976. By August of 1978, the site was declared an unprecedented state emergency by the New York State Health Department and the issue became a national media controversy. At that time, President Jimmy Carter ordered the Federal Disaster Assistance Agency to get involved. This was the first time a president ever ordered emergency funds to be used in a situation other than a natural disaster. In the end, much of the chemical waste was removed from the area, but it still was not deemed safe. More than 800 families were forced to relocate and were reimbursed for their homes by the government.

In 1980, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act was signed into law to prevent future chemical disasters. The law, commonly known as Superfund, requires the safe clean up and storage of abandoned or inactive hazardous waste sites. There are hundreds of Superfund sites scattered across the nation. You don't want to build your dream home near an area that is declared a Superfund site.

Check out the U.S. Environmental Agency to see if there are any potentially toxic sites in your area.

Case Studies of Recent Manmade Disasters

1. Greenpoint, NY - A huge underground lake filled with 30 million gallons of oil and other chemicals sits beneath this Brooklyn neighborhood. The chemicals got there during an ExxonMobil oil spill in 1950 and they are still endangering residents today through toxic vapors, contaminated food and drinking water, and toxic skin contact.

2. Danvers, Mass. - A local chemical plant exploded in November 2006, injuring 10 people and damaging 90 homes as far as half a mile away.

3. Appalachia, West Virginia - Mountaintop removal coal mining has poisoned streams and rivers throughout the region with pollutants that make the water undrinkable.

Future Areas to Avoid

In addition to existing toxic problems, Americans may have to deal with an uncertain future with nuclear waste. The main problem is that we don't have enough storage space for existing nuclear waste since the Yucca Mountain repository was abandoned. Regardless of this issue, the outgoing Bush administration approved the proposal of adding another 21 nuclear reactor projects. Proposals to build two new nuclear reactor waste storage facilities have been approved, but experts say it could take more than 50 years until a single repository is actually licensed. So, if you don't want to end up neighbors with a nuclear reactor site or waste storage facility, keep your eyes and ears on the news to find out where these proposed toxic sites may end up.

For those of you who want to check out the safety of your current or future home locale, you should order a neighborhood environmental report through a local home inspector. These reports cost around $100 or $150 and will reveal the amount and type of environmental contamination in your area.

Posted by: Sirena Rubinoff