death of 260 cattle in West Virginia. According to the New York Times Magazine, "By 1990, DuPont had dumped 7,100 tons of PFOA sludge into Dry Run Landfill. Todd Haynes new film Dark Waters wades into some of the most complicated topics in public health, chemistry, and the law to dramatize the story of environmental attorney Robert Bilott and his nearly two decades of civil actions against DuPont. There also are related substances called precursors that transform into PFOA and PFOS in the body or the environment. June 14, 2022. Bilott is currently suing several makers and users of these chemicals on behalf of all Americans with PFAS in their blood. See how thats all wallered down? Wilbur's brother, Jim, was also employed as a laborer at the Washington Works plant, along with hundreds more who found steady work at the area's largest employer. Maybe if he filmed it, they could see for themselves and realize he was not just some crazy old farmer. A creek connects the landfill and the fields of Tennant's farm. . How accurately does Dark Waters depict the twists and turns of this maze? The sp_t cookie is set by Spotify to implement audio content from Spotify on the website and also registers information on user interaction related to the audio content. His freezer had brimmed with venison, wild turkey, squirrel, and rabbit. And the man who started it all, Wilbur Tennant, won't see that resolution. Tennant's farm is close to a newly DuPont-owned landfill. In May 2015, a consortium of scientists across many disciplines released a document called the Madrid Statement. Did they think he would just sit by? Michael Hawthorne is a Pulitzer-finalist investigative reporter who focuses on the environment and public health for the Chicago Tribune. Wilbur Tennant shot this video on his property in the 1990's. Tennant was a farmer who sold part of his land in Parkersburg, West Virginia, to DuPont, for what the company had assured him would be a non-hazardous landfill. None of this information was shared with the public. How would you like for your livestock to have to drink something like that? he asked his imagined audience. . Excerpt from Exposure: Poisoned Water, Corporate Greed, and One Lawyers Twenty-Year Battle against DuPont. Photos by Focus Features and EPK. Company officials told one of Tennants brothers in person and in writing they planned to turn it into a landfill for office garbage nothing hazardous. Its surface was matte with a crusty film that wrinkled against the shore. It was contaminated with high levels of PFOA. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. May 15, 2009; Location: Washington, West Virginia; Tribute & Message From The Family. As a man, he had walked its banks with his wife. This cookie is used for load balancing purposes. This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen. Parkersburg is also home to the Tennant family, who, for nearly a century, have worked land that eventually grew to 700-plus acres and raised more than 200 head of cattle. He couldnt quite place it. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Facebook sets this cookie to show relevant advertisements to users by tracking user behaviour across the web, on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin. It's a story straight out of a legal thriller penned by John Grisham, though instead of the Deep South, this one takes place in Appalachia. Lawyers in Parkersburg, West Virginia, turned him down when he urged them to sue DuPont, then one of areas biggest employers. Ill do something about it.. In 1998, a farmer named Wilbur Earl Tennant knocked on the door of a lawyer named Robert Bi-lott on the grounds that the vegetation structure of the land he owned was impaired, the cattle he was breeding were affected and the only responsible was the factory located next to the river, ow-ning a wasteland adjacent to his property. One person can't always cause a change, but one person can set off a chain of reactions to cause change. After contacting the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, he felt stonewalled. Once this came to light, reports indicate, the Tennants settled their lawsuit against DuPont in August 2000, but the fight wasn't over. Bilott, with begrudging support of his firm (Tim Robbins plays his boss), confirms Wilbur's worst fears: the local DuPont plant has been dumping toxic waste on land next to the Tennant farm. Wilbur Earl Tennant was a cattle farmer in Parkersburg, Virginia, who was known to his family and friends as Earl. Bilotts law firm, Taft Stettinius & Hollister, typically represents corporate clients like DuPont in environmental cases, not people like Tennant. During the course of the litigation, we have confirmed that the chemicals and pollutants released into the environment by DuPont may pose an imminent and substantial threat to health and the environment, Bilott wrote at the beginning of his March 6, 2001, letter. Sometimes the cattle watered at a spring-fed bathtub trough at the farthest end of the field, but mostly they drank from Dry Run. DuPont's response was they would settle with the Tennant's however Bilott was . In 2005, DuPont agreed to phase out its use of C8 (PFOA) by 2015, according to The Intercept. Wilbur Earl Tennant. In the flames, a calf lay broadside, burning. It is cut from the same cloth as movies like 'Erin Brockovich' and 'A Civil Action'. Bilott also discovered that years before he sued DuPont on behalf of the Tennants, company scientists had tested the creek running through the familys pasture. Recently, the cows had started charging, trying to kick him and butt him with their heads, as this one had before she died. In March, a federal judge limited the case to Ohio residents with a specific amount of the chemicals in their blood, which alone could include up to 11 million people. Thing was, time was running out. So, the couple sold about 60 acres to DuPont. Tennant stated that . Predictably, his complaints to government went ignored. The state vet wouldnt even come out to the farm. His hand shook as he pressed the zoom button, zeroing in on a stagnant pool. Tennant was a West Virginia farmer whose family owned land near a DuPont factory on the Ohio River where the chemical giant made one of its signature inventions: Teflon nonstick and anti-stain coatings used in carpets, clothing, cookware and hundreds of other products. This cookie is set by the provider Akamai Bot Manager. These cookies help provide anonymized information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Isnt that lovely?. The farmer, Wilbur Tennant of Parkersburg, W.Va., said that his cows were dying left and right. Attorney Rob Bilott discusses the Fight Forever Chemicals campaign on Nov. 19, 2019. DuPont's statement said the film "depict[s] wholly imagined events," calling implications of a cover up "inaccurate," and claimed that it "grossly misrepresents" what happened. The company turned this land into the unlined Dry Run Landfill. Dry spells shrank it to a necklace of pools that winked with silver minnows. In April 2000, after 3M conducted tests and studies on a similar, sister chemical to C8 (PFOA) called PFOS, the company notified the Environmental Protection Agency it found that "even modest exposure could have devastating health effects" and started to phase out PFOS use, as well as PFOA, according to the Huffington Post. Patches of missing hair, discolorations in their . Not even buzzards and scavengers would eat them. But you just give me time. Call him, they suggested. But you just give me time. "In 1991, DuPont scientists determined an internal safety limit for PFOA concentration in drinking water: one part per billion. Much like many river cities, Parkersburg's history speaks of a working class, industrial heritage, which saw companies set up shop on the shores of the Ohio River, bringing jobs and economic stability. . A group of citizens in West Virginia challenges a powerful corporation to be more environmentally responsible. The muscle looked fine, but a thin, yellow liquid gathered in the cavity where it once beat. Thunderstorms occasionally swelled the creek so much that he couldnt wade across it. And in 2017, according to Reuters, DuPont and its spinoff, Chemours, agreed to pay more than $600 million to settle about 3,500 personal injury resulting from the alleged contamination of local water supplies in Parkersburg. Even though he sold them to be finished and slaughtered for beef, he didnt have the heart to kill one himself, unless it had a broken leg and he needed to end its suffering. His mothers grandfather had bought this land, and it was the only home he had ever known. Tennants Farm Pond Dam is a cultural feature (dam) in Wood County. Wilbur Tennant, played by Bill Camp in the film, showed Bilott videos and pictures he had taken of his cows foaming at the mouth and staggering in ways they hadn't before, with lesions covering . Today, that site is home to Chemours Washington Works, a spinoff of DuPont that employs more than 600 people and produces a variety of products used in construction, aerospace, and household goods. (He later would be played by actor Mark Ruffalo in the 2019 film Dark Waters.). It kicked and thumped and wallered around there like you wouldnt believe.. Cows that drank from the creek had been healthy. She had spent the summer in the hollow, drinking out of Dry Run until shed started to act strangely. Like the movie, Richs article portrays Bilott as an unassuming and understated man driven by an innate sense of decency. That calf had died miserable. This cookie is used to manage the interaction with the online bots. Now it was filled with specimens you might find in a pathology lab. GRAPHIC CONTENT: An excerpt from Wilbur Earl Tennant's video showing the mysterious wasting disease affecting his cows in the 1990s. Tennant Farm, December 1999, from DuPont Cattle Team Report. The Post read a statement from DuPont that reiterated the company's commitment to health and safety and protecting the environment: "Although DuPont does not make the chemicals in question, we have announced a series of commitments around our limited use of PFAS and are leading [the] industry in supporting federal legislation and science-based regulatory efforts to address these chemicals." Did they think he would just sit by? These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. wilbur tennant farm location. Around here, that economic engine was DuPont, known for innovations like nylon, Tyvek, and Teflon. Robert Bilott (born August 2, 1965) is an American environmental attorney from Cincinnati, Ohio.Bilott is known for the lawsuits against DuPont on behalf of plaintiffs injured by waste dumped in rural communities in West Virginia. Did they think no one would notice? Other testing by 3M found the compounds in apples, bread, green beans and ground beef. DuPont's Washington Works plant in Parkersburg, West Virginia. (Ammonium perfluorooctanoate or C8) wastes near the farm. DuPont immediately removed all female workers from areas where they might come into contact with the chemical.". Tennant is convinced that a landfill operated by the DuPont company upstream from his farm is the cause of the continuing maladies suffered by his cattle and his family. DuPont initially refused, but a court order ultimately forced them to turn over what amounted to more than 100,000 pages, some dating back 50 years.
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