5 Groups Ask Judge to Prohibit Sales of Homes Near Love Canal

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Five environmental and community groups went to court Tuesday to block the resettlement of Love Canal, one day before a state agency planned to start showing homes near the notorious chemical dump to buyers.

The groups said they wanted a state judge to enforce his 1985 injunction barring resettlement of the neighborhood in Niagara Falls until an environmental impact statement was completed. No hearing was scheduled because the judge was on vacation.

“Resettlement may subject human beings to a serious health risk, such as mutagenic diseases and death,” said Joanne Hale of the Commission for Racial Justice.

The Love Canal Area Revitalization Agency said it had asked the same judge, state Supreme Court Justice Joseph Mintz, to lift the 1985 injunction. And the state attorney general’s office, which asked Mintz to impose the injunction five years ago, said it would not object to the agency’s request.

The revitalization agency planned to start showing 10 houses north and northwest of the chemical-filled canal bed to prospective buyers today and to start accepting bids for them on Sept. 5.

The judge is not due back until early September, said Richard J. Lippes, attorney for the environmental groups. Lippes said he would consider asking another judge to hear the case if the agency plans to actually start selling houses before Mintz returns.