BK 24 (Jun 2, 2020): Exposure: Poisoned Water, Corporate Greed and One Lawyer's Twenty-Year Battle Against DuPont

Hi Everyone...

Our discussion on Jun 2nd will be on Exposure: Poisoned Water, Corporate Greed and One Lawyer's Twenty-Year Battle Against DuPont by Robert Bilott (Oct 8, 2019).

With 372 reading pages it will be approximately 12 pages a day.

Check out the bio & videos below:

"Silent Spring meets Erin Brockovich in this eye-opening, riveting true story of the lawyer who spent two decades building a case against DuPont for its use of the hazardous, unregulated chemical PFOA, uncovering a history of environmental contamination that affects virtually every person on the planet, and the heartless behavior that kept it a secret for 60 years. 

The story that inspired the forthcoming major motion picture from Participant Media/Focus Features starring Mark Ruffalo and Anne Hathaway, directed by Todd Haynes. 

1998: Rob Bilott is a young lawyer specializing in helping big corporations stay on the right side of environmental laws and regulations. His life and career take an unexpected turn when he gets a phone call from a West Virginia farmer named Earl Tennant. Earl is convinced the creek on his property is being poisoned by runoff from a neighboring DuPont landfill. His cattle are dying in hideous ways, as is much of the surrounding wildlife. Earl hasn't even been able to get a water sample tested by any state or federal regulatory agency or find a local lawyer willing to take the case. As soon as they hear the name DuPont - the area's largest employer - they shut him down. 

Once Rob sees the thick, foamy water that bubbles into the creek, the gruesome effects it seems to have on livestock, and the disturbing frequency of cancer and other health problems in the surrounding area, he's persuaded to fight against the type of corporation his firm routinely represents. After intense legal wrangling, Rob ultimately gains access to hundreds of thousands of pages of DuPont documents, some of them fifty years old, that reveal the company has been holding onto decades of studies proving the harmful effects of a chemical called PFOA, used in making Teflon. PFOA is often called a "forever chemical," because once inside the body, it remains there for a long period of time, building up faster than the body can excrete it, and once in the environment, it does not break down or degrade for millions of years, contaminating the planet forever. Although aware of these properties, DuPont kept its scientific findings from the public while at the same time dumping hundreds of thousands of pounds of PFOA waste into the Ohio River and landfills. The case of one farmer soon spawns a class action suit on behalf of seventy thousand residents-and the shocking realization that virtually every person on the planet has been exposed to PFOA and carries the chemical in his or her blood. 

What emerges is an unforgettable, David and Goliath-style legal drama about malice and manipulation, the failings of environmental regulation; and one lawyer's 20-year struggle to expose the truth about this previously unknown - and still unregulated - chemical that we all have inside us."

Feb 15, 2020

Can't embed...55 min C-SPAN

Movie Dark Waters (Videos of Interviews with Mark Ruffalo & Robert Bilott)

Welcome to Beautiful Parkersburg, West Virginia: Home to One of the Most Brazen Deadly Corporate Gambits in U.S. History - Many graphics!

2015 The Intercept Article: "The Teflon Toxin: DuPont and the Chemistry of Deception" Look on left side there are 3 parts to this article!

2016 NY Times Article: "The Lawyer Who Became DuPont's Worst Nightmare"

Bad Chemistry - 41 Articles by Sharon Lerner in The Intercept

EWG Petition to Sign to Clean Up Toxic PFAS at Military Bases

Anti-Fogging Glass Spray May Contain PFAS

July 10, 2022: Forever Chemicals Found in Drinking Water Throughout Illinois by Michael Hawthorne Chicago Tribune

NEW:

Jun 23, 2023: 3M Reaches $10.3 Billion settlement over contatmination of water systems with 'forever chemicals' by John Flesher APNews

Jun 21, 2023 PFAS found in blood of dogs, horses living near Fayetteville, NC (phys.org) by North Carolina State University Phys.org

Aug 18, 2023 EPA Weighing Expanding List of PFAS chemicals to Regulate, Tennessee Riverkeeper Says Would Aid Clean UP

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This is what we discussed at the Meeting...

* The Blog post (Above) with all the materials I have on it & how each have something others do not

* 99.7% of people having C8 in them.

* Testing for C8

* Military Bases having C8 in the water and nobody is doing anything about it (See video directly above) & Retired US Army pilot Jim Holmes' daughter

* Being grateful for Robert Bilott & that he & his firm stayed with this case for so long

* Chemours & GenX

* Virginia EPA & Massey Coal and Federal EPA stepping in

* Federal EPA not doing anything about C8 and letter DuPont determine levels

* Federal EPA grandfathering in 80K chemicals which are not regulated now

* Future EPA if Administration changes & further as younger people become of age to be in office

* Dark Waters movie

* Other articles above

* One source I had saying 1/2 life 4 yrs but rest say Bioaccumulates

* Article that has actual documents you can download

* Article with nice Timeline

* Article with people effected in each state & I mentioned highest & also IL

* Robert Bilott's illness & possible cause???

* Those of us reading Fibershed already a bit on similar issues with synthetic dyes

* How they changed the minimal levels and they were self determining

* Little amount DuPont had to pay in fines to the EPA

* Buckey Bailey & why it study did not show birth defects when DuPont's did and why they could not use those studies in court

* What a Bellwether trial is

* Awareness of this issue with C8

* Awareness of Teflon issue

* Military use of C8

* Firemen and C8 in foam

* Other products with C8 like Dental Floss, plastic materials for impression material etc, flame retardant clothing, carpet etc.

* How new chemicals are approved today

* I will continue to read articles (41 on one line above) and update everyone with anything new

* I showed my schedule for next week being Ocean week & things that changed already! You can participate in presentations

* I discussed movie for this week Minimalism

* I discussed movie for next week Chasing Coral and reason for it being Fri instead of Thurs

* I showed Find Your Water new links (other states, outside US & Virtual Water)

* Next books & future voting

* Next meeting on Zoom to be safe