[150] The speech's negative reception centred on a view that he did not emphasize his own efforts to address the energy crisis and seemed too reliant on Americans.[151]

EPA Love Canal Superfund
In 1978, Carter declared a federal emergency in the neighborhood of Love Canal in the city of Niagara Falls, New York. More than 800 families were evacuated from the neighborhood, which had been built on top of a toxic waste landfill. The Superfund law was created in response to the situation.[152] Federal disaster money was appropriated to demolish the approximately 500 houses, the 99th Street School, and the 93rd Street School, which had been built on top of the dump; and to remediate the dump and construct a containment area for the hazardous wastes. This was the first time that such a process had been undertaken. Carter acknowledged that several more "Love Canals" existed across the country, and that discovering such hazardous dumpsites was "one of the grimmest discoveries of our modern era".[153]

Poor relations with Congress
Carter typically refused to conform to Washington's rules.[154] He avoided phone calls from members of Congress and verbally insulted them. He was unwilling to return political favors. 