Wundry Plus subscribers can binge new seasons of American scandal early and ad free right now.

Join Wundry Plus in the Wundery app or on Apple Podcasts. Wonder. It's August 9th, 1978 in Washington, D.C.

In the Executive Office Building next door to the White House,

a group of political staffers are holed up in a nondescript

conference room talking about how to address the toxic waste problem in Love Canal.

Sitting around the conference table are representatives from the office of New York Congressman

John La Falls, as well as members of New York Governor Hugh Carey's staff and people who work

for President Jimmy Carter.

Also seated at the table is Lois Gibbs, who until a week ago carried little

title except wife and mother, but over the last several months things have been moving quickly

for her. It was only recently that Gibbs first heard that the

Love Canal neighborhood was built around a dump site for chemical waste and that that

waste is now leaking into the soil, groundwater, and the air.

Gibbs and many others have come to believe that the chemicals are causing health problems

in the community, and she's spent the last several months fighting to get the government

to address the problem. Now it seems like the

government is finally listening. They've convened this meeting to discuss an

aid package for helping relocate residents of Love Canal during the cleanup.

Gibbs is here in Washington as the new locate residents of Love Canal during the cleanup.

Gibbs is here in Washington as the newly elected president of the Love Canal Homeowners Association

to represent the interests of her community.

But she's anxious as she listens to these political insiders trying to figure out

...