. This cookie is installed by Google Universal Analytics to restrain request rate and thus limit the collection of data on high traffic sites. He especially enjoyed hunting, working in the garden and around the farm with his grandson Josh and . May 15, 2009; Location: Washington, West Virginia; Tribute & Message From The Family. Ken Wamsley spent nearly 40 years working at DuPont Washington Works plant, and some of that time, he measured levels of the chemical C8 (PFOA). These cookies help provide anonymized information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. When he noticed his cows were mysteriously dying, he filmed what was happening on the farm, and the toxic legacy of C8 - DuPont's Teflon chemical - was discovered. I could find no record of any such incident taking place. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. Published by Atria Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc. Cookie used to remember the user's Disqus login credentials across websites that use Disqus. When they bought half of the farm from Wilbur they began to use it for a landfill to store the toxins being . This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The stream looked like many other streams that flowed through his sprawling farm. Wilbur Tennant showed Bilott alarming video footage in which his previously docile animals had turned . It is cut from the same cloth as movies like 'Erin Brockovich' and 'A Civil Action'. The spleen was thinner and whiter than any spleen he had come cross. Thank you for helping us continue making science fun for everyone. When their attorney, Robert Bilott of Cincinnati, asked the EPA to order DuPont to stop using C8, the company sought a restraining . Bryan Schutmaat for The New York Times. If Wilbur Earl Tennants cows hadnt died from a mysterious wasting disease during the 1990s, the world might have never learned about the secret history of toxic forever chemicals. 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. Wilbur Tennant and his family had recently sold part of their farmland to a company and had no idea what would end up coming of it. No one would help him. DuPont bought 66 acres of the Tennant's farm land from Wilbur Tennant's brother Jim and his wife Della [1]. As a linchpin bolstering Dark Waters case as a message movie, the events depicted on the Tennant cattle farm in Parkersburg, West Virginia, really ought to be accurate, and for the most part, they are. Even down near the tips of it. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance. Shorty after that, DuPont started to medically monitor female workers at the Washington Works plant to, as the company's medical director noted, "answer a single question does C8 cause abnormal children?" death of 260 cattle in West Virginia. DuPont determined that PFOA passed from pregnant employees to their fetuses. In less than two years he had lost at least one hundred calves and more than fifty cows. Deitzler suggests it would have been a historic first for no partners at a firm of Tafts size and corporate client base to express qualms about a class-action suit of this kind. The company turned this land into the unlined Dry Run Landfill. It flowed through a corner of the three-hundred-acre farm, in a place Earl called the holler. A small valley cut between hillsides, the holler was where he moved the herd to graze throughout the summer. Her son, Bucky, was born in 1981 with nose and eye deformities. In the 1980s, Jim Tennant and his wife, Della, got an offer from DuPont. He wasnt an expert, but the disease seemed clear enough that he bagged the physical evidence and left it in his freezer for the day he could get someone with credentials interested enough to take a look. Around here, that economic engine was DuPont, known for innovations like nylon, Tyvek, and Teflon. LinkedIn sets this cookie for LinkedIn Ads ID syncing. Maybe if he filmed it, they could see for themselves and realize he was not just some crazy old farmer. He owned 200 cows that grazed on 600 acres. ATSDR/CDC also notes that more studies need to be done in the area of health effects, particularly on shorter-chain substances. They concluded that 'the study was valid' and that 'the observed fetal eye defects were due to C8,' according to internal DuPont documents. Edit your search or learn more. And Im gonna cut her open and find out what caused her to die. The Teflon Toxin, Part 2: Wilbur Tennant vs. DuPont. 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. His name is Wilbur Tennant. He didnt believe it anymore. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. That looks a little bit like cancer to me.. Where they should have been smooth, they looked ropy, covered with ridges. All rights reserved. Class Action - Part 1. The pattern element in the name contains the unique identity number of the account or website it relates to. At fifty-four, Earl was an . See how thats all wallered down? Thats the water right there, underneath that foam, the farmer said. They had seven cows then. He focuses on the froth-covered creek before the tape cuts to a dissected calf with blackened teeth and oddly colored organs. "If that's what it takes to get people the information they need and to protect people, we're willing to do it.". The local employer wanted to buy some of their property for a landfill for its Washington Works plant nearby, where it produces, among other things, Teflon, which contains the chemical C8. His pleas for help fell on deaf ears, according to the Huffington Post's article, "Welcome to Beautiful Parkersburg, West Virginia." There also are related substances called precursors that transform into PFOA and PFOS in the body or the environment. And, based on Centers for Disease Control data, PFAS chemicals were found the blood of 98 percent of people studied. He hardly ever saw minnows swimming in the creek anymore, except the ones that floated belly up. 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. LinkedIn sets this cookie from LinkedIn share buttons and ad tags to recognize browser ID. . You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. 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. GRAPHIC CONTENT: An excerpt from Wilbur Earl Tennant's video showing the mysterious wasting disease affecting his cows in the 1990s. W. Earl Tennant Wilbur Earl Tennant, 67 of New England passed away suddenly at his residence May 15, 2009. . It smelled rotten. But his first big meeting is interrupted by Wilbur Tennant (Bill Camp, outstanding), a cattle farmer from Parkersburg, W.Va., the rural town where Bilott's grandmother lives and where he used to . 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. I noticed that in at least one of the scenes where I was portrayed. They are everywhere. In the meantime, people are drinking these chemicals every day. Thats Hollywood, I guess. (Bilott has not yet responded to my email and telephone inquiries about whether he has ever enjoyed a celebratory Mai Tai or any other tropical, rum-based cocktail.). Anne Hathaway as Sarah Bilott and the real-life Sarah Bilott. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better experience for the visitors. Shes poor as a whippoorwill. 1998: Wilbur Tennant contacts Taft's and Hollisters' (Taft) lawyer, Robert Billot, to assist in his case against DuPont for dumping chemical waste into the river that his cows drink from, causing them severe health problems. Wilbur Earl Tennant was a cattle farmer in Parkersburg, Virginia, who was known to his family and friends as Earl. He requested all documents that DuPont had related to PFOA. The farmer, Wilbur Tennant of Parkersburg, W.Va., said that his cows were dying left and right. When he cut out the other lung, he noted dark purple splotches where they should have been fluffy and pink. The cows grazed on a mixed pasture of white Dutch clover, bluegrass, fescue, red clover . DuPont's Washington Works plant in Parkersburg, West Virginia. A cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface. In 2005, the company agreed to fund studies on the health effects of C8. This cookie is used for storing country code selected from country selector. When the Grahams heard in 1998 that Wilbur Tennant was looking for legal help, they remembered Bilott, White's grandson, who had grown up to become an environmental . As in the movie, he at first had a cozy relationship with DuPont, though some of the details of the relationship in the movie are invented. These emerging contaminants linger, breaking down only when incinerated at very high temperatures. The Kiger family, teacher Joseph Kiger and his wife, Darlene, really did receive a cagey and curiously worded letter from the local Lubeck water district in October 2000 notifying them that an unregulated chemical named PFOA was present in their drinking water at low concentrations. And, as the film intimates, this letter, delivered on the public utilitys letterhead, was first reviewed by DuPont and started the clock on the statute of limitations. Much of the biographical information about the Kiger family, including Darlenes first marriage to a DuPont engineer who came home sick and called it the Teflon flu, also checks out. And of course, he knew all about Dry Run Landfill, a DuPont waste site near his farm that largely served the company's chemical plant near Parkersburg. While the character of the hand-wringing Taft lawyer James Ross, portrayed by The Good Places William Jackson Harper, seems to have been invented, along with the scene where Ross suggests that Bilotts class-action suit might read to the public as nothing more than a shakedown of an iconic American company, Bilott did tell the New York Times that he perceived that there were some What the hell are you doing? responses within the firm. Hunting had been one of Earls greatest pleasures. Nearly 70,000 people participated. . Eight years later 3M paused one of its animal studies after every monkey fed PFOS died. Bilott had now discovered the cause in the deaths of the cattle on Tennant's farm and had called DuPont regarding this information. Sometimes it ran so dry hed find them glittering dead in the mud. Home. The underdog was a farmer whose family worked the land for generations, building it from a small operation to a thriving livelihood. He had stopped feeding his family venison from the deer he shot on his land. This cookie is set by Facebook to display advertisements when either on Facebook or on a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising, after visiting the website. But what about the alarming moment when a fire breaks out at the home of Joseph Kigers father, who shares his name? Yes, DuPont is still in business, although it has struggled slightly to survive independently from time to time due to its poor public reputation. In October 2018, he filed a lawsuit on behalf of a firefighter, who used fire suppression foam and equipment containing PFAS for 40 years. This cow died about twenty, thirty minutes ago, Earl said. June 14, 2022; salem witch trials podcast lore These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Calf born dead. Earl loved his cows, and the cows loved Earl. Bilott has spent more than twenty years litigating hazardous dumping of the chemicals perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS). Still, in other scenes, such as when Bilott falsely suspects his car might be rigged with an explosive, its made clear that the events of the film are leading some of its characters to fear things that arent really there. And the money came in handy, too, since Jim, a Washington Works employee, had for years suffered from flu-like symptoms and illnesses that baffled doctors, as outlined in a Delaware Online article from 2016. Rob Bilott's Exposure is a real-life whodunit, a page-turning courtroom drama, a David-and-Goliath story of one man against an industrial colossus and a shocking expos of America's utterly broken environmental policy.You should also take this book personally - because the "exposure" of the title is yours. (He later would be played by actor Mark Ruffalo in the 2019 film Dark Waters.). People who didnt know him very well called him Wilbur, but friends and family called him Earl. Birds sang through the white-hot humidity as he panned the camcorder across the creek. The document, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, called on global scientists, manufacturers, and retailers to work together to limit the use of PFASs and develop safer alternatives. Two of seven babies born to Teflon plant employees in 1981 had facial deformities similar to what 3M had found in newborn rats. Invest in quality science journalism by making a donation to Science Friday. Robert Bilott isn't done. song that goes bum bum bum 2020. wilbur tennant farm locationconservation international ceo. This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen. According to the book, DuPont had commissioned a photographer to take aerial photos of the property as part of its defense. None of this information was shared with the public. Just months before Rob Bilott made partner at Taft Stettinius & Hollister, he received a call on his direct line from a cattle farmer. . Among the files, many mentions of the chemical PFOA, also known as C8, a slippery surfactant, that was first produced by DuPont in 1938, appeared. It looked, at most, a few days old. In the 1980s, Jim and his wife, Della, would sell acreage to DuPont for use as a landfill for scrap metal, according to the New York Times Magazine. Tennant stated that . riding horses, milking cows and watching Secretariat win the Triple Crown on TV. During the years before DuPont settled the lawsuit paying the Tennants an undisclosed amount without assigning blame for the dead cows the company sent Bilott boxes of documents he requested through the normal court process. . Sure, bitters make cocktails taste great. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. She had spent the summer in the hollow, drinking out of Dry Run until shed started to act strangely. Back in the '90s, Tennant noticed something strange was happening to his cows. "Mysterious wasting disease" and. But now it seemed they were ignoring him. When the cattle on Wilbur Earl Tennant's farm began to mysteriously fall ill and die, he suspected it wasn't what the animals were eatingit was what they were drinking. Joseph and Darlene Kiger in Park City, Utah, in 2018. DuPont's own instructions specified that it was not to be flushed into surface water or sewers," according to the New York Times Magazine. But you just give me time. Dont understand that at all. Wilbur Tennant is on Facebook. Black smoke curled into the daylight. 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." He died of a heart attack in 2009 at age 67. Nor was it on the list of substances regulated by the EPA. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. LinkedIn sets the lidc cookie to facilitate data center selection. He was 7 years old. A farmer's cows suddenly start dying off. It all started with Wilbur Tennant's dying cows. Used to help protect the website against Cross-Site Request Forgery attacks. Cows that drank from the creek had been healthy. C8 is a "surfactant," a chemical compound that reduces surface tension. Her calf, black and white, lay dead on its side in a circle of matted grass. DuPont detected PFOA in the drinking water of communities near the Teflon plant. Deer, birds, fish and other wildlife were turning up dead in and around Dry Run. LinkedIn sets this cookie to remember a user's language setting. are linked to DuPont's landfilling of PFOA. When she returned to work at DuPont, Bailey learned about a study by 3M (the manufacturer of C8) that found similar deformities in unborn rats exposed to the chemical, according to the Huffington Post. His earlier efforts had all revealed unpleasant surprises: tumors, abnormal organs, unnatural smells. It does not store any personal data. "In 1991, DuPont scientists determined an internal safety limit for PFOA concentration in drinking water: one part per billion. The films portrayal of the physical toll that the excruciating, decadeslong legal battle against DuPont seems to have had on Bilotts health is also accurate. The muscle looked fine, but a thin, yellow liquid gathered in the cavity where it once beat. I dont recall him drinking, Deitzler says. And if it sounds familiar, it should. For decades it had been the backbone of 3Ms Scotchgard brand of stain-resistant products. The Messed Up True Story Behind Dark Waters, Welcome to Beautiful Parkersburg, West Virginia. July 7, 1996 Washington, West Virginia. Thing was, time was running out. . wilbur tennant farm location. Did they think no one would notice? Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. But a single letter, sent by a DuPont scientist to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, began unraveling a more alarming story. Bilott helped companies comply with new environmental regulations established by the Superfund legislation and became an expert at the chemistry of pollutants, according to the New York Times Magazine. It was different from the regular dead-cow smells he had dealt with all his life. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. It had paid for the 150 acres of land his great-grandfather had bought and for the two-story, four-room farmhouse pieced together from trees felled in the woods, dragged across fields, and raised by hand. After this sale, Tennant's cattle started to become sick and Tennant began to understand that . They just turn their back and walk on, he told the camera. DuPont then really did proceed to turn that plot into a dumping ground for sludge that it knew to be toxic, going so far as to quietly conduct tests for perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, in the nearby river and expressing concern for the health of the Tennants livestock in internal documents nearly a decade before they would be denying culpability and blaming the Tennants in court. The cookie is used to store and identify a users' unique session ID for the purpose of managing user session on the website. Tennant wants to sue chemical giant . Photos by Focus Features and EPK. Isnt that lovely?. Details of what DuPont allegedly knew and when came to light in pages and pages of documents, initially as part of the lawsuit Bilott filed against the company on behalf of Wilbur Tennant and then in more than 3,000 subsequent personal injury suits that have followed in the past two decades. GRAPHIC CONTENT: An excerpt from Wilbur Earl Tennant's video showing the mysterious wasting disease affecting his cows in the 1990s. Records obtained by Bilott showed DuPont had determined in 1961 that PFOA is toxic in animals. He made for an imposing figure at six feet tall, lean and broad shouldered, his . How accurately does Dark Waters depict the twists and turns of this maze? Similarly, DuPonts presence in the Ohio and West Virginia Chemical Valley regions really did resemble the company town vibe portrayed in Dark Waters, with citizens frequently too enthralled by the multinationals economic benefits to question its impact on their health and safety. Teflon came into prominence in the 1940s, and with it came DuPont's rise as a chemical giant. The Teflon Toxin, Part 2: Wilbur Tennant vs. DuPontNot Yet Rated. Wilbur Tennant and his wife, Sandra, won a legal settlement from DuPont two years ago after they accused the company of sickening their family and killing their cattle by dumping C8 into a landfill near their farm. The flies hummed as loud as bees. At least thats what his family had been told thirteen years before by the company that had bought their land. Just because there really is something in the water doesnt mean you cant also be paranoid. This video contains graphic imagery. The Taft offices are in Cincinnati, Ohio. . When the cattle on Wilbur Earl Tennants farm began to mysteriously fall ill and die, he suspected it wasnt what the animals were eatingit was what they were drinking. Dark Waters tells a story that in many ways is still being written, and itwill likely take years for this latest lawsuit to be resolved. He was speaking to the camcorder pressed to his eye. June 14, 2022. As a boy, he had cooled his bare feet in this creek. The carcasses lay where they fell. No matter how much he fed them, they always looked to be wasting away, and some even bled from their mouth as they bellowed, according to the New York Times Magazine. All contents 2023 The Slate Group LLC. "The innards was bright green.". The sometimes contentious tenor of Bilotts relationship with Wilbur Tennant is also true to life. Alternatives for PFOA and PFOS promoted as safe by industry are just as dangerous, if not more so, scientists are finding. Wilbur Tennant, a cattle farmer in Parkersburg, W.Va., the site of a huge DuPont plant, had over many years gradually built up his herd. . Anyone could see that something was terribly wrong, not only with the landfill itself but with the agencies responsible for monitoring it. And theyre going to find out one of these days that somebodys tired of it.. Wilbur Tennant passed away on May 15, 2009 at the age of 67 in Washington, West Virginia. After the Tennants had been paid and Bilotts law firm collected its fees for representing them, he found himself coming back again and again to the piles of industry documents he had collected, urged on by the persistent Tennant. It turned out 3M also made PFOA and sold it to DuPont, which used the chemical cousin of Scotchgard to keep Teflon from clumping during production. Dry Run was less than a miles walk from the home place, across Lee Creek, through an open field, and along a pair of tire tracks. Bilott, whose story was chronicled in an engrossing and detailed 2016 New York Times story by Nathaniel Rich, goes from a 1999 lawsuit on behalf of Tennant to a 2001 class action involving several . Given the fact that the events depicted on the Tennant cattle farm in Parkersburg, West Virginia, are Dark Waters' most important evidence, the filmmakers should have treated them with the utmost authenticity - to their credit, they did for the most part.Wilbur Tennant's brother Jim really was a DuPont employee who got sick with a disease the doctors couldn't diagnose; and the chemical . By the 1980s, DuPont had allegedly begun dumping PFOA waste into the Dry Creek Landfill, near the Tennant property. This cookie is associated with Django web development platform for python. SiteLock sets this cookie to provide cloud-based website security services.
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