1969 Cuyahoga River Fire Sparked New Efforts to Protect the Environment
The Cuyahoga River fire on June 22, 1969 was not the first or even the worst—the fire lasted only 30 minutes and caused just $50,000 in damage—but timing was everything.
The 1969 fire—which started when sparks from a passing train landed on oil-soaked industrial debris that was floating in the river—burst into flame at a time when Americans were becoming increasingly concerned about preserving clean air and water and reducing industry’s long-term effects on the environment.
The Cuyahoga River fire instantly became one of a handful of powerful symbols of the troubled legacy—in terms of both environmental damage and human health risks—of America’s fading industrial economy. The event also turned Cleveland into a national punch line—The Mistake by the Lake—which the city worked for years to overcome.
Today, the Cuyahoga River has been reclaimed. The once-infamous waterway is now home to 60 species of fish as well as beavers, blue herons, bald eagles and other wildlife. Billions of dollars have been spent to reduce pollution from sewage and industrial waste and control storm water runoff, and billions more are earmarked for additional wastewater treatment.
Cleveland has even turned its fiery industrial past into a force for good; the Burning River Fest, started in 2002, is an annual outdoor festival with good food and live music that showcases environmental issues and raises money for water-focused environmental causes.
And, once again, the Cuyahoga River has become a national symbol—this time of successful river reclamation projects across the United States and the undeniable power of sustained community action to bring about positive change.
“This didn’t happen because a bunch of wild-haired hippies protested down the street,” said John Perrecone, a manager of Great Lakes programs for the EPA, in an interview with The New York Times. “This happened because a lot of citizens up and down the watershed worked hard for 40 years to improve the river.”
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I am an environmental attorney and engineer -from the Detroit area.
One little known fact is that when officials cleaned up Cuyahoga River becuase of the fire, Lake Erie near Cleveland was not improving– much to their dismay. It seems that much of the pollution affecting lake Erie near Cleveland was actually from Detroit — up river. It took a team from Wayne State University in Detroit to prove it because the pollution from Detroit wound up in front of Cleveland in only a few hours.
Most of the pollution was from CSOs (combined sewer overflows). CSO routinely occur when it rains and the effluent in the sewer pipes overflowed into the river!
Jim,
I would be interested in what you think of perichlorate poisoning in our waters as well. You are right and the author is right, we are not hippies rioting in the streets. some of us really care about the quality of life in our country and our citizens health. When the govt starts to shun our educated community on such issues, we should worry that more is not being done to ensure our basic principalies of the constitution. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. If there is no life we are being denide the basic principalities of our freedoms bestowed to us by our ancestors.
It wasn’t debris in the river that burned, it was kreosote from the railroad ties that caught fire and dripped into the river making it look like the river was on fire.
Max,
Where did the word ‘riot’ come from? In the John Perrecone comment he uses the word ‘protested’.
Perhaps if those in authority had listened to the ‘wild hair hippies’ (which is, to say the least, emotive language by John Perrecone) we would not now be facing the world’s environmental disaster that is before us.
Or perhaps Perrecone finds it hard to admit that they, the ‘wild haired hippies’ were right?