At fifty-four, Earl was an imposing figure, six feet tall, lean and oxshouldered, with sandpaper hands and a permanent squint. Even though the Tennant case had already settled, Bilott pushed on, building a larger case against DuPont on behalf of residents in a Parkersburg-area water district. Vacillating Wildly From Dispiriting to Exhilarating, A New Biopic Reduces One of Historys Greatest Writers to a Cottagecore Emo Girl, How Steven Spielbergs Autobiographical New Movie Rewrites His Story, The Lawyer Who Became DuPonts Worst Nightmare, He knew his neighbors and his community was being poisoned, commissioned a photographer to take aerial photos. This cookie is set by the provider Akamai Bot Manager. Wamsley suffered from ulcerative colitis, a condition that can lead to rectal cancer, which, in his case it, did. 3M and DuPont have argued in court and in public statements that neither chemical is harmful to people at typical levels of exposure. Robert Bilott isn't done. How accurately does Dark Waters depict the twists and turns of this maze? Her white hide was crusted with diarrhea, and her hip bones tented her hide. They concluded that 'the study was valid' and that 'the observed fetal eye defects were due to C8,' according to internal DuPont documents. 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. In less than two years he had lost at least one hundred calves and more than fifty cows. Other testing by 3M found the compounds in apples, bread, green beans and ground beef. Their innards smelled funny and were sometimes riddled with what looked to him like tumors. This is the hundred and seventh calf thats met this problem right here. wilbur tennant farm location. In short, I was playing for the opposite team, Bilott recalled in his memoir about the lawsuit he ended up filing against DuPont and the explosive aftermath. A few years after the sale, Tennant suspected DuPont had filled the landfill with more than just garbage. The cookie is used to store and identify a users' unique session ID for the purpose of managing user session on the website. Wilbur Tennant's brother Jim really was a DuPont employee plagued with a serious ailment his doctors could not diagnose, and the chemical company did buy his 66 acres of the family's 600-some . In real life as in the film, Bilotts earliest professional experiences after law school were working on behalf of chemical companies for his employer, Taft Stettinius & Hollister, providing the firms corporate clients with guidance on how best to comply with the so-called Superfund law passed by Congress in 1980 to regulate sites tainted with hazardous substances. 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. 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. 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. It was small and ephemeral, fed by the rains that gathered in the creases of the ancient mountains that rumpled West Virginia and gave it those misty blue, almost-heaven vistas. He believed that the DuPont chemical company, which until recently operated a site in Parkersburg that is more than 35 times the size of the Pentagon, was responsible. The EPA on its own only recently started to take steps to study, monitor, and regulate the use of PFAS and released an update to its action plan programin February 2020. In October 2018, he filed a lawsuit on behalf of a firefighter, who used fire suppression foam and equipment containing PFAS for 40 years. Did they think he would just sit by? This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen. This cookie is used to manage the interaction with the online bots. "We have always and will continue to work with those in the scientific, not-for-profit and policy communities who demonstrate a serious and sincere desire to improve our health, our communities, and our planet.". Jim Tennant and his wife, Della, sold DuPont a 66-acre tract of land that became part of the Dry Run Landfill. DuPont did not tell this to the Tennants at the time." It is based on a shocking true story, where a series . W. Earl Tennant Wilbur Earl Tennant, 67 of New England passed away suddenly at his residence May 15, 2009. . Invest in quality science journalism by making a donation to Science Friday. By that point, 153 animals died had died grisly deaths on his property . These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Standing walleyed in an open field was a polled Hereford red with a white face and floppy ears. You notice them dark place there, all down through? June 14, 2022; salem witch trials podcast lore This cookie, set by Cloudflare, is used to support Cloudflare Bot Management. This cookie is used to detect and defend when a client attempt to replay a cookie.This cookie manages the interaction with online bots and takes the appropriate actions. She had a calf over there. By the late 1990s, West Virginia farmer Wilbur Tennant was at his wits end. The olive green water had a greenish brown foam encrusting the grassy bank. A creek connects the landfill and the fields of Tennant's farm. A cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface. Robert Bilott is a partner at Taft, Stettinius & Hollister LLP in Cincinnati, Ohio. Shes poor as a whippoorwill. He knew the folks at the DNR, because they gave him a special permit to hunt on his land out of season. Wilbur Earl Tennant and his siblings took over the land when their father abandoned them in the 1950s, according to the Huffington Post. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. But friends knew the grandson of one of their neighbors had become an environmental lawyer in Cincinnati. 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. Wilbur Tennant is one farmer in a community who sees DuPont as something more than an employer. 1: The Farm. There is something wrong with this water, Tennant says on the videotape. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Wilbur Tennant showed Bilott alarming video footage in which his previously docile animals had turned . 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. Created by Bluecadet. 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. Attached to it was a gallbladder that didnt. They just turn their back and walk on. A group of citizens in West Virginia challenges a powerful corporation to be more environmentally responsible. In 2005, the company agreed to fund studies on the health effects of C8. And theyre going to find out one of these days that somebodys tired of it.. 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. DuPont and 3M kept the U.S. EPA in the dark for years, company and government records show. The Tennants were initially reluctant, especially because of its intended use, but DuPont promised it would house only nonhazardous waste, like scrap metal and ash, according to the Huffington Post. 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. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". It was different from the regular dead-cow smells he had dealt with all his life. A thicker foam gathered in eddies, trembling like egg whites whipped into stiff peaks so high they sometimes blew off on a breeze. Over the decades they steadily acquired land and cattle, until 200 cows roamed more than 600 hilly acres. It begs the question: How many cancers and other health effects are we willing to accept?, Read the investigation: Tribune finds more than 8 million Illinoisans get drinking water from a utility where forever chemicals have been detected >>>. Wilbur Tennant's family farm was located next to a "non-hazardous" landfill operated by the chemical company. In the flames, a calf lay broadside, burning. He sued DuPont again on behalf of thousands of people who lived near the Teflon plant and for decades had been exposed to PFOA through drinking water and air pollution. The other companies named in the lawsuit did not respond to Time's requests for comment. 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 lawyer. Issued by Microsoft's ASP.NET Application, this cookie stores session data during a user's website visit. The campaign coincided with the release of the film "Dark Waters" starring Mark Ruffalo inspired by the true story of Bilott, who discovered a community had been dangerously exposed for decades to deadly chemicals. And if it sounds familiar, it should. And the man who started it all, Wilbur Tennant, won't see that resolution. DuPont and the family settled the lawsuit soon after Bilott shared that information with one of the companys lawyers, who had referred to PFOA in an email as the material 3M sells us that we poop into the river and into drinking water.. In November 2019, the Washington Post hosted a podcast with Mark Ruffalo and Robert Bilott to discuss the film and the lawsuit. June 14, 2022. Initial data showed evidence that it did. Listen to an interview with Bilott about the chemical lawsuits on Science Friday. The problem, he thought, was not what they were eating but what they were drinking. C8 is a "surfactant," a chemical compound that reduces surface tension. Bilott tries to communicate to Tennant that he "isn't that kind of environmental lawyer," yet Tennant's exasperated resilience strikes a chord with the compassionate . In 1981 , 3M found that ingestion of . DuPont's Washington Works plant in Parkersburg, West Virginia. emily in paris savoir office. (Maddie McGarvey/for the Washington Post). But the point I want to make, and make it real clear, he said, zooming in, thats the mouth of Dry Run.. In 1998, corporate lawyer Robert Bilott ( Mark Ruffalo) is approached by Wilbur Tennant ( Bill Camp) a farmer from his hometown of Parkersburg, West Virginia. He knew his neighbors and his community was being poisoned, Bilott told the Post. Dark Waters tells the true story of American farmer Wilbur Tennant who calls on lawyer Rob Bilott (Mark Ruffalo) to help him sue a chemical company Credit: Focus Features. 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. DuPont settled the Tennant case for an undisclosed amount. The smell was odd. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. LOCATION. It all started with Wilbur Tennant's dying cows. DuPont named this sight Dry Run Landfill after the creek that ran onto the Tennant farm. Hunting had been one of Earls greatest pleasures. 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. From playing with computers to building networks: How the space for Black Software was made. As he does in the film, the real Bilott did begin to experience strange symptoms in 2010 similar to the strokelike transient ischemic attack seen in the movie. He died of . The TiPMix cookie is set by Azure to determine which web server the users must be directed to. 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. July 7, 1996 Washington, West Virginia. Used to help protect the website against Cross-Site Request Forgery attacks. Up until about a decade ago, few in the public knew about C8, let alone its potential health effects, but DuPont allegedly knew its toxic effects for decades and purportedly failed to tell employees or the public, according to The Intercept. The calf was engulfed in a black, humming mist. When DuPont settled that lawsuit in 2004, the company agreed to finance a study of PFOAs health effects. Both companies denied any wrongdoing. Isnt that lovely?. . 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. The farmer, Wilbur Tennant of Parkersburg, W.Va., said that his cows were dying left and right. Anne Hathaway as Sarah Bilott and the real-life Sarah Bilott. Similarly, Bilotts boss, Tom Terp (Tim Robbins), is not on the record as ever having threatened to cut Bilotts balls off and feed them to DuPont himself if his subordinate were to ever again unilaterally send internal documents found via discovery to a federal regulatory agency or speak on his findings to Congress. At 72, Jim is so slight that he nearly . After contacting the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, he felt stonewalled. 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. 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?" All Public Member Trees results for Wilbur Tennant. Like the movie, Richs article portrays Bilott as an unassuming and understated man driven by an innate sense of decency. In a statement to Time, DuPont said it does not produce PFAS but does use them and defended the company's environmental and safety record, noting it has "announced a series of commitments around our limited use of PFAS, including the [sic] eliminating the use of all PFAS-based firefighting foams from our facilities." Because I was feeding her enough feed that she shoulda gained weight instead of losing weight. 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. According to the book, DuPont had commissioned a photographer to take aerial photos of the property as part of its defense. 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. . Thats where theyre supposed to come down here and pull water samples, to see whats in that water. He pointed the camera at a stagnant pool of water flanked by knee-high grass. . DuPont's Washington Works plant in Parkersburg, West Virginia. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Trial lawyer Harry Deitzler, whos played by Bill Pullman in the film, told Slate in a telephone interview that while Dark Waters captured Bilotts sense of commitment and general modesty, it was less accurate in its depiction on one particular issue: Robert Bilott has not been known to be an especially big fan of Mai Tais, either in general or on special occasions. And after Bilott watched and listened, he took action. 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. 30 Broad Street, Suite 801 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. Bilott found studies that potentially linked PFOA with a variety of cancers, birth defects, and illnesses. Tennant didnt live to witness the scope of what unfolded after he persuaded Bilott to file the lawsuit about his dead cows. The unlikely hero was an Ohio-based corporate defense lawyer paid to protect chemical companies, just like the one the farmer suspected of foul play. A corporate courtroom drama typically doesn't need extensive visual effects, but "Dark Waters" had a few key moments that could not be created practically. Alternatives for PFOA and PFOS promoted as safe by industry are just as dangerous, if not more so, scientists are finding. Bilott's connection to Parkersburg dated back to his childhood, when he spent summers there visiting his grandmother, and her friend is the one who suggested to Wilbur Tennant that he call Bilott, an environmental lawyer at Cincinnati firm Taft Stettinius & Hollister, for help. As luck would have it, the company bought 66 acres from one of their employees, Wilbur Tennant. He was born at New England, a son of the late Blaine Tennant and Lydia (Wildman) Tennant. For decades it had been the backbone of 3Ms Scotchgard brand of stain-resistant products. These chemicals are most harmful when ingested and consequently bioaccumulate, meaning they build up over time in the body (just as they build up in the environment). Cookie used to remember the user's Disqus login credentials across websites that use Disqus. The sometimes contentious tenor of Bilotts relationship with Wilbur Tennant is also true to life. Now it looked like dirty dishwater. 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.