Ecumenical Task Force of the Niagara Frontier, Inc.

When it was founded in March, 1979, the objectives of the Ecumenical Task Force of the Niagara Frontier, Inc., were to provide direct aid to Love Canal residents, provide an advocacy voice for the religious community on behalf of the residents, to inform religious communities of the issues and to work toward long-range solutions to the chemical waste problems locally and throughout the country.

A number of Love Canal residents, including Patricia Brown, were active members of the ETF. They worked with the task force to collect and interpret the scientific information concerning the health risks in the Love Canal area. They also sought and gained the assistance of scientists to explain the medical and engineering issues that were having an impact on them and their neighborhood.

The ETF worked with state, federal and local agencies, legislators and government officials to obtain relief for the Love Canal residents and remediation for the toxic waste problems at the Love Canal and other sites in Niagara County.

Between 1979-1980, the ETF functioned primarily to publicize the nature and extent of the health threat posed by toxic wastes at these sites and advocated for the relocation of residents.

In the decade that followed, the task force continued to be actively involved in governmental and corporate efforts to clean up and/or to contain toxic wastes at the affected sites, and in the controversies concerning habitability and reuse of the original Love Canal site. The ETF was a party to litigation involving Hooker Chemical, Occidental Chemical, and the Love Canal Revitalization Agency.

Its library and records, collected by Patricia A. Brown, constitute the Ecumenical Task Force of the Niagara Frontier, Inc., Love Canal Collection of the University at Buffalo Libraries.