Case Studies - Environmental Science - page 350

In the summer of 1978, an informal door-to-door survey showed a higher than normal number of birth defects
and other anomalies near the dump. The New York State Health Department followed up with the initial find-
ings to discover a high number of miscarriages. The dumpsite was declared an emergency on August 2, 1978,
and limited evacuations were ordered. Further testing revealed the size of the dumpsite to be larger than origin-
ally thought and the evacuation zone was enlarged. Of the children born between 1974 and 1978, 56 percent of
them showed some signs of birth defects. Of the 900 families in the area, over 800 were forced to move or
chose to move out of the area.
Santa Barbara Oil Spill
The Santa Barbara oil spill occurred in January and February of 1969 in the Santa Barbara Channel. It was the
largest oil spill in U.S. waters until the Exxon Valdez in 1989. The source of the oil spill was a blowout on
January 28, 1969, on Union Oil's Platform A. The well was capped within minutes but rupture of the ocean
floor allowed an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 barrels of crude oil to spill into the channel and eventually drift
onto beaches from Goleta to Ventura and the northern shores of four Channel Islands. The spill had an impact
on marine life in the channel, killing thousands of sea birds, and marine mammals such as dolphins, elephant
seals, and sea lions. The coverage by the media ultimately resulted in numerous environmental legislations
over the next several years, forming the framework of the modern environmental movement in the United
States. The oil spill, along with other events, helped create legislation that led to the formation of the Environ-
mental Protection Agency, as well as policies including the National Environmental Policy Act and the Clean
Water Act. In California, the California Coastal Commission was formed and the California Environmental
Quality Act (CEQA) was passed in response to the Santa Barbara oil spill.
Three-Mile Island Nuclear Disaster
Caused by a loss of reactor coolant, the Three-Mile Island accident was a partial core meltdown in a pressur-
ized water reactor on March 28, 1979. It is the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history. The accident released 13
million curies of radioactive gases but less than 20 curies of the dangerous I-131 (iodine-131) isotope. The ini-
tial mechanical failure was followed by human failure to quickly recognize and correct the problem. In the end,
the reactor was brought under control and a total meltdown was avoided. Studies concluded that the amount of
released radioactive material was small. Studies also predicted an undetectable increase in cancer cases.
Public reaction to the event was probably influenced by the release of the movie The China Syndrome 12 days
before the accident. The movie depicted an accident at a nuclear power plant. The accident at Three-Mile Is-
land crystallized the anti-nuclear movement in the United States and was a contributing factor in the decline of
new reactor construction.