UB Law examines Love Canal's lasting legacy

3 generations of affected families, community advocates & UB faculty to discuss history, present chemical dangers at Nov. 2 event

By the University at Buffalo

Nearly 50 years after Love Canal became a defining moment in the nation’s environmental history and helped give rise to the federal Superfund law, families in Niagara County continue to confront the effects of toxic contamination and work to prevent future harm.

The University at Buffalo School of Law will bring together three generations of families affected by Love Canal, community advocates and UB faculty at a panel presentation titled, “From Love Canal to Lasting Change: Families, community advocates, and UB confront toxic contamination in Niagara County.”

This event will take place from 5:30-7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2, at 25 John Lord O’Brian Hall on the UB North Campus. To attend, register at this website.

The panel discussion will examine the enduring impact of environmental contamination in Niagara County through the experiences of those who have lived with its consequences, advocated for their communities and worked to advance environmental protections.

UB faculty panelists include Christen Civiletto, a frequently quoted environmental attorney, author and adjunct faculty member at the School of Law; and Kim Diana Connolly, professor of law and vice dean for innovation, interdisciplinarity and community impact.

“Three generations of Love Canal families remind us that the consequences of toxic contamination persist, but the work highlighted here – including more than a decade of outstanding advocacy by the law school’s Environmental Advocacy Clinic student attorneys alongside community partners that prevented a new toxic waste dump in Niagara County – brings hope for the future,” Connolly said.

Connolly’s teaching and scholarship focus on environmental law and policy and advancing a more sustainable future. As director of the law school’s Environmental Advocacy Clinic, she and her students have worked for more than 14 years to stop a proposed toxic waste site near Chemical Waste Management’s former Residuals Management Unit. Her work has addressed environmental and social justice issues before courts, legislative bodies and government agencies at the local, state, federal and international levels.

A Niagara Falls native, Civiletto has spent more than 15 years litigating environmental cases and more than two decades researching the region’s history of industrial pollution. Her 2026 book, “Thundering Waters: The Toxic Legacy of Niagara Falls,” draws on interviews with thousands of residents, workers and others, as well as her own family’s experiences, to examine the region’s environmental devastation and its continuing impact across generations.

The program will be moderated by Joshua Wallace, Class of 2019, senior research scientist at UB’s RENEW Institute. Janet Lenichek, chair of the Sierra Club Niagara’s executive committee, and Carter Strickland, SUNY’s chief sustainability officer and executive director of climate action, will deliver remarks.

By bringing together those directly affected by Love Canal with community advocates and university partners, the program will highlight what remains at stake for local families – and how collaboration can help confront contamination in Niagara County while informing environmental protection efforts far beyond the region.

More about the University at Buffalo School of Law: Founded in 1887, the University at Buffalo School of Law – the State University of New York system’s only law school – has established an excellent reputation and is widely regarded as a leader in legal education. The School of Law provides students with an intellectually rigorous, practice-ready legal education, with emphasis on interdisciplinary studies, public service and opportunities for hands-on clinical legal education.