Wilbur Tennant explained that he and his four siblings had run the cattle farm since their father abandoned them as children. Turns out his grandmother lived in the same town as the farmer and that's the connection that brought the underdog and the hero together. And after Bilott watched and listened, he took action. The spleen was thinner and whiter than any spleen he had come cross. In the meantime, people are drinking these chemicals every day. 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. oh, two-thirds bigger than it should be., The kidneys, too, looked abnormal. Sometimes it ran so dry hed find them glittering dead in the mud. Interview: Todd Haynes on - Slant Magazine He sliced open the chest cavity, pulled out a lung, and turned the camera back on. Bilott is currently suing several makers and users of these chemicals on behalf of all Americans with PFAS in their blood. Their innards smelled funny and were sometimes riddled with what looked to him like tumors. Over the decades they steadily acquired land and cattle, until 200 cows roamed more than 600 hilly acres. Thank you for helping us continue making science fun for everyone. Where they should have been smooth, they looked ropy, covered with ridges. He often walked through the woods shirtless and shoeless, his trousers rolled up, and he moved with an agile strength built by a lifetime of doing things like lifting calves over fences. Some of the more surprising moments in the film were in fact real and confirmed by Bilott in his memoir about the case, like when the farmer Wilbur Tennant (Bill Camp), who brought the case to . Attached to it was a gallbladder that didnt. 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. 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. (Maddie McGarvey/for the Washington Post). Wilbur Tennant is on Facebook. just a dukes mix of everything. Until lately, the cattle always fattened up nicely on that, plus the corn he grew to finish them and a grain mix he bought from the feed store. The use of these cookies is strictly limited to measuring the site's audience. Then one autumn day in 2000, local schoolteacher Joe Kiger . 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. 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). The Case Against DuPont - Type Investigations The saga began for Bilott when Wilbur Tennant, a cattle farmer from Parkersburg, West Virginia, called Bilott a few months before he made partner at a white-shoe Cincinnati law firm. Initial data showed evidence that it did. Like the movie, Richs article portrays Bilott as an unassuming and understated man driven by an innate sense of decency. All contents 2023 The Slate Group LLC. PDF The Lawyer Who Became DuPont's W orst Nightmare - News Services 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. Then he wrote a 19-page letter, attached some of the industry documents and mailed the package to officials at the EPA and the Department of Justice. 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. One person can't always cause a change, but one person can set off a chain of reactions to cause change. 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. Dark Waters is a 2019 American legal thriller film directed by Todd Haynes and written by Mario Correa and Matthew Michael Carnahan.The story dramatizes Robert Bilott's case against the chemical manufacturing corporation DuPont after they contaminated a town with unregulated chemicals. Bilott had now discovered the cause in the deaths of the cattle on Tennant's farm and had called DuPont regarding this information. Invest in quality science journalism by making a donation to Science Friday. 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. This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen. Wilbur Earl Tennant, 67 of New England passed away suddenly at his residence May 15, 2009. C8 and other long-chain per-fluorinated chemicals are used in a myriad of household, industrial, and commercial products. Joseph and Darlene Kiger in Park City, Utah, in 2018. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. And I burn them all. . Something is the matter right there. The Lawyer Who Became DuPont's Worst Nightmare - Muckraker Farm Of Bilotts Famous Letter to the EPA, Terp told the Times that he didnt recall if there was any particular reaction internally and that the partners at Taft were proud of the work that he has done.. Wilbur Tennant passed away on May 15, 2009 at the age of 67 in Washington, West Virginia. They just turn their back and walk on. It smelled rotten. SiteLock sets this cookie to provide cloud-based website security services. This cookie is associated with Django web development platform for python. DuPont Duplicity Causes Defendant's Lawyer To Switch Sides 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. Taking on the case of Wilbur Tennant (played by Bill Camp in the film), a West Virginian farmer whose land is contaminated from toxic run-off dumped near his premises by DuPont Company, Bilott (Ruffalo) quickly encounters the gargantuan machine of corporate disinformation, negligence, cover-up, and strong-arm tactics that allow the company to . DuPont appeared to be concerned enough about PFOA that the company tested employees at the Teflon plant and found the chemical in their blood, the letter to the EPA revealed. Its something I have never run into before., He reached back into the cow and pulled out a liver that looked about right. They had seven cows then. 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 cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". As one of Bilotts colleagues told the New York Times, To say that Rob Bilott is understated is an understatement. Its also true that Bilott did not have the same Ivy League pedigree of many of his colleagues at Taft, having been raised on Air Force bases across the continental United States and West Germany, and it was through these working-class connections that he was introduced to the Tennant family farm case. Mr. Tennant believed early on that something coming out of the plant and landfill was poisoning the water and the animals on his farm. Azure sets this cookie for routing production traffic by specifying the production slot. One tooth had an abscess so large he reckoned he could stick an ice pick clear under it. As unbelievable as it may sound, DuPont really did, in the 1960s, offer some of its staff Teflon-laced cigarettes as a human experiment into the potential side effects of the PFOA-produced nonstick material, as the movie recounts. He started the legal process in 1999 against DuPont by filing motions compelling it to turn over documents pertaining to hazardous materials used at the Washington Works plant near Parkersburg. This time he is seeking to force 3M and DuPont to pay for medical monitoring of every American exposed to PFAS. The story started in Parkersburg, West Virginia, home to about 32,000 people and about a three-hour drive due east of Cincinnati. LinkedIn sets this cookie for LinkedIn Ads ID syncing. 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. R ob Bilott, a corporate lawyer-turned-environmental crusader, doesn't much care if he's made enemies over the years. . Behind him, white-faced Herefords grazed in rolling meadows. The Lawyer Who Became DuPont's Worst Nightmare The US House of Representatives passed a bill in January 2020 that would require the EPA to deem per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) hazardous and establish a national drinking water standard. Yes, the household name used as a cookware coating agent that is advertised to make food not stick and is known for its durability in . And it takes immense courage and conviction to do that. 'Dark Waters' is an upcoming American legal thriller helmed by Todd Haynes. The True Story of 'Dark Waters': How Accurate are the Characters? - The 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.. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The Devil We Know on iTunes - Apple The carcasses lay where they fell. apples, bread, green beans and ground beef. At the end of the movie, I had a revelation. I dont understand them great big dark red places across there. Bilott is back in court again. People who didn't know him very well called him Wilbur, but friends and family called him Earl. Set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category . So, the couple sold about 60 acres to DuPont. "In 1991, DuPont scientists determined an internal safety limit for PFOA concentration in drinking water: one part per billion. The cookie is a session cookies and is deleted when all the browser windows are closed. A key component of Teflon was C8, also known as perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). Wilbur Earl Tennant. In his memoir, Exposure: Poisoned Water, Corporate Greed, and One Lawyers Twenty-Year Battle Against DuPont, published earlier this year, Bilott says that doctors could only really diagnose the issue as unusual brain activity after an MRI similar to the one he undergoes in the film. Her white hide was crusted with diarrhea, and her hip bones tented her hide. In the flames, a calf lay broadside, burning. Her eyes were sunk deep in her head. As in the movie, these events really did lead to a large class-action suit that triggered a massive epidemiological study that, after a yearslong wait, showed there really was a probable link between PFOA and certain conditions, including high cholesterol, kidney cancer, and testicular cancer, though the movie depicts one scientist going so far as to tell Bilott that the results are irrefutable. (DuPont has continued to deny that it did anything wrong.). The farm spread roughly 600 acres, and had a total of 200 cattle roaming around. emily in paris savoir office. It contained an extraordinarily high concentration of PFOA. . He panned the camera a few degrees. The TiPMix cookie is set by Azure to determine which web server the users must be directed to. That's just some of the video footage Wilbur showed lawyer Robert Bilott, according to an excerpt from Exposure: Poisoned Water, Corporate Greed, and One Lawyer's Twenty-Year Battle against DuPont. (Chicago Tribune Handout). Next door to Tennant's farm was a landfill owned by E.I. Photo illustration by Slate. Nearly 70,000 people participated. wilbur tennant farm location . LinkedIn sets this cookie to remember a user's language setting. 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. 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. 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. No one would help him. Listen to an interview with Bilott about the chemical lawsuits on Science Friday. Dry spells shrank it to a necklace of pools that winked with silver minnows. 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. LOCATION. He died of . Wilbur Tennant shot this video on his property between 1995 and 1997. On August 31st of 2017, E. I. Dupont de Nemours Company and the Dow Chemical Company merged as part of a $130 billion merger. He hardly ever saw minnows swimming in the creek anymore, except the ones that floated belly up. Dark Waters (2019 film) - Wikipedia Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. 1: The Farm. The cookie does not store any personally identifiable data. 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. See how thats all wallered down? Leadership Lessons From Rob Bilott's 20 Year Battle For - Forbes In 1973 she [took] him to the cattle farm belonging to the Tennants' neighbors, the Grahams, with whom White was friendly. Dozens began dramatically losing weight, dying even after Tennant doubled their feed on the advice of veterinarians who couldnt determine what was killing the animals. Did they think no one would notice? In 1998, corporate lawyer Robert Bilott ( Mark Ruffalo) is approached by Wilbur Tennant ( Bill Camp) a farmer from his hometown of Parkersburg, West Virginia. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. GRAPHIC CONTENT: An excerpt from Wilbur Earl Tennant's video showing the mysterious wasting disease affecting his cows in the 1990s. Michael Hawthorne is a Pulitzer-finalist investigative reporter who focuses on the environment and public health for the Chicago Tribune. The farmer, Wilbur Tennant of Parkersburg, W.Va., said that his cows were dying left and right. "Hold on to something," Jim Tennant warned as he fired up his tractor. He was certain that DuPont was fouling the waters that his cattle drank, and he'd already lost more than half of his herd to bizarre illnesses. Predictably, his complaints to government went ignored. His hand shook as he pressed the zoom button, zeroing in on a stagnant pool. DuPont responds with a study of the Tennant farm conducted with the Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A) that . It dont do you any good to go to the DNR about it. He didnt believe it anymore. Her calf, black and white, lay dead on its side in a circle of matted grass. . riding horses, milking cows and watching Secretariat win the Triple Crown on TV. The West Virginia-based farmer was convinced a toxic river that ran into his farmland was to blame, since the animals' strange symptoms began when his brother sold some land to a chemical company to use as a landfill site a . Behind him, white-faced Herefords grazed in . This cookie, set by Cloudflare, is used to support Cloudflare Bot Management. ATSDR/CDC also notes that more studies need to be done in the area of health effects, particularly on shorter-chain substances. 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. The Messed Up True Story Behind Dark Waters, Welcome to Beautiful Parkersburg, West Virginia. In October 2018, he filed a lawsuit on behalf of a firefighter, who used fire suppression foam and equipment containing PFAS for 40 years. DuPont C8 Contamination in Parkersburg, West Virginia and Ohio, USA Sometimes the cattle watered at a spring-fed bathtub trough at the farthest end of the field, but mostly they drank from Dry Run. The Devil We Know: Directed by Stephanie Soechtig, Jeremy Seifert. Photos by Focus Features and EPK. The flies hummed as loud as bees. The Lawyer Who Became DuPont's Worst Nightmare - Brutal Proof DuPont established a presence along the Ohio River in 1948 with the Washington Works plant near Parkersburg. By that point, 153 animals died had died grisly deaths on his property . DuPont Defends the Teflon Toxin in Court - The Intercept Earl retired from the WV Department of Highways as an equipment operator. But you just give me time. DuPont settled the Tennant case for an undisclosed amount. Hard labor was his birthright. Did they think no one would notice? For decades it had been the backbone of 3Ms Scotchgard brand of stain-resistant products. Wilbur Tennants 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 familys 600-some-acre property in the 1980s. Thats the water right there, underneath that foam, the farmer said. A few years after the sale, Tennant suspected DuPont had filled the landfill with more than just garbage. The Lawyer Who Became DuPont's Worst Nightmare 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. June 14, 2022. The olive green water had a greenish brown foam encrusting the grassy bank. VigLink sets this cookie to show users relevant advertisements and also limit the number of adverts that are shown to them. The farmhouse stood at the foot of a sloping meadow that rose into a bald knob. Theres been fifty-six cows thats been burnt just like this.. Dark Waters true story: How a lawyer exposed a chemical giant - mirror The chemical companies are appealing the decision. Its dumping pits were unlined, designed for the disposal of nonhazardous wasteoffice paper and everyday trash. Edit your search or learn more. 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. 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. The herd that had once been nearly three hundred head had dwindled to just about half that.