Deer, birds, fish and other wildlife were turning up dead in and around Dry Run. The Taft offices are in Cincinnati, Ohio. 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.). Some states aren't waiting for the feds to act, taking steps to hasten a response to "forever chemicals" through mitigation and regulation, and some of those steps include court action. He was an excellent marksman, and his family had always had enough meat to eat. Rob Bilott vs. the (DuPont) World | by Ayu Larasati | Medium 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. He requested all documents that DuPont had related to PFOA. We consulted a variety of sources, including Nathaniel Richs 2016 New York Times Magazine feature The Lawyer Who Became DuPonts Worst Nightmare (upon which the movie is based), Bilotts own book, other longform articles, and attorney Harry Deitzler (the personal-injury lawyer played in the movie by Bill Pullman), to help sort out whats true and whats embellished. "He was doing for the Tennants what he would have done for any of his corporate clients pulling permits, studying land deeds and requesting from DuPont all documentation related to Dry Run Landfill but he could find no evidence that explained what was happening to the cattle," the New York Times wrote. 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. 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. . Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. For example, New Hampshire sued 3M and DuPont, along with a handful of companies that make firefighting foam containing PFAS. As Bilott details in Exposure, the April 23, 2001, incident was eventually confirmed between his legal team and DuPonts. Recently, the cows had started charging, trying to kick him and butt him with their heads, as this one had before she died. GRAPHIC CONTENT: An excerpt from Wilbur Earl Tennant's video showing the mysterious wasting disease affecting his cows in the 1990s. Robert Bilott - Wikipedia He knew his neighbors and his community was being poisoned, Bilott told the Post. None of this information was shared with the public. "As soon as you cut the skin loose, you get some of the foulest smells you've ever smelled," Jim Tennant told the Huffington Post. His pleas for help fell on deaf ears, according to the Huffington Post's article, "Welcome to Beautiful Parkersburg, West Virginia." . 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. He hardly ever saw minnows swimming in the creek anymore, except the ones that floated belly up. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. Standing walleyed in an open field was a polled Hereford red with a white face and floppy ears. This video contains graphic imagery. In 2005, the company agreed to fund studies on the health effects of C8. Calf born dead. Earl loved his cows, and the cows loved Earl. 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. That day had never come, so he decided he would make them watch a video. 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. DuPont also discovered that pollution containing PFOA vented from the Washington Works plant affected the surrounding area, allegedly contaminating the local water supply, according to the New York Times Magazine. Science Friday is produced by the Science Friday Initiative, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Attorney Rob Bilott discusses the Fight Forever Chemicals campaign on Nov. 19, 2019. Babies are born every day with these chemicals. 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 . He walked there every day to count heads and check fences. It was to be incinerated or sent to chemical-waste facilities. New York, NY 10004. About 600 are in use today, according to the EPA. That looks a little bit like cancer to me.. May 15, 2009; Location: Washington, West Virginia; Tribute & Message From The Family. Wilbur Tennant showed Bilott alarming video footage in which his previously docile animals had turned . Despite internal debate, it declined to make the information public," the magazinenotes. 'Dark Waters' is an upcoming American legal thriller helmed by Todd Haynes. The first thing Im gonna do is cut this head open, check these teeth.. The Teflon Toxin, Part 2: Wilbur Tennant vs. DuPont. 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. Created by Bluecadet. LinkedIn sets this cookie to remember a user's language setting. wilbur tennant farm location I noticed that in at least one of the scenes where I was portrayed. Wamsley suffered from ulcerative colitis, a condition that can lead to rectal cancer, which, in his case it, did. Behind him, white-faced Herefords grazed in . DuPont responds with a study of the Tennant farm conducted with the Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A) that . 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. "The innards was bright green.". Did they think he would just sit by? DuPont's Washington Works plant in Parkersburg, West Virginia. NID cookie, set by Google, is used for advertising purposes; to limit the number of times the user sees an ad, to mute unwanted ads, and to measure the effectiveness of ads. His hand shook as he pressed the zoom button, zeroing in on a stagnant pool. The stream looked like many other streams that flowed through his sprawling farm. Shes poor as a whippoorwill. Their quest for justice wound its way through the American judicial system for nearly two decades, unearthing long-hidden deeds which, some reports say, are akin to those perpetrated by big tobacco on the public. He especially enjoyed hunting, working in the garden and around the farm with his grandson Josh and . GRAPHIC CONTENT: An excerpt from Wilbur Earl Tennant's video showing the mysterious wasting disease affecting his cows in the 1990s. The Lawyer Who Became DuPont's Worst Nightmare You could poke it with a stick and leave a hole. The Intercept notes that the legal process "uncovered hundreds of internal communications revealing that DuPont employees for many years suspected that C8 was harmful and yet continued to use it, putting the company's workers and the people who lived near its plants at risk.". I fed her at least a gallon of grain a day. These cookies help provide anonymized information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Dry Run used to flow gin clear. Persistent farmer whose cows died from a mysterious disease helped He died of cancer in 2009; he was 67. VigLink sets this cookie to show users relevant advertisements and also limit the number of adverts that are shown to them. Editors note: In 1999, Robert Bilott sued E.I. 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. Its dumping pits were unlined, designed for the disposal of nonhazardous wasteoffice paper and everyday trash. 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. They concluded that 'the study was valid' and that 'the observed fetal eye defects were due to C8,' according to internal DuPont documents. Wilbur Earl Tennant - May 15, 2009 - Obituary - Tributes.com wilbur tennant farm location (Chicago Tribune Handout). Thing was, time was running out. In the meantime, people are drinking these chemicals every day. 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. Foam began appearing in a creek that meandered past the landfill before spilling into the Tennants pasture, he later testified in a court filing. For decades it had been the backbone of 3Ms Scotchgard brand of stain-resistant products. . wilbur tennant farm location. Bilotts law firm, Taft Stettinius & Hollister, typically represents corporate clients like DuPont in environmental cases, not people like Tennant. At fifty-four, Earl was an . 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. The carcass was starting to smell. Tennants Farm Pond Dam is a cultural feature (dam) in Wood County. The June 23, 2000, letter listed something in the landfill that didnt appear in the other documents or in Tafts chemical dictionaries. A cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface. In 1999, a farm farmily sued DuPont for the death of their cattle and the ill health of exposed family and farm workers. . I dont ever remember seeing that in there before., He cut out the heart and sliced it open. 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). working in the garden and around the farm with his grandson . As a boy, he had cooled his bare feet in this creek. 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 same year, DuPont found that water in one local district contained PFOA levels at three times that figure. C8 is a "surfactant," a chemical compound that reduces surface tension. The other companies named in the lawsuit did not respond to Time's requests for comment. The primary coordinates for Tennants Farm Pond Dam places it within the WV 26184 ZIP Code delivery area. 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. And now, another side of the DuPont story | Cape Gazette 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. The farmers name was Wilbur Earl Tennant. With no one from the government or even local veterinarians willing to do it, Earl decided to do an autopsy himself. PFOA (C8) and PFOS were the long-chain, more commonly used substances in a larger group of more than 4,000 man-made chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Two of seven babies born to Teflon plant employees in 1981 had facial deformities similar to what 3M had found in newborn rats. And theyre going to find out one of these days that somebodys tired of it.. Bill Pullman was portraying me, and hes taller and younger, and everyone appeared to be drinking. 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. Photos by Focus Features and EPK. Hard labor was his birthright. It also helps in fraud preventions. 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.. Because I was feeding her enough feed that she shoulda gained weight instead of losing weight. 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. The same year, the EPA fined DuPont more than $10 million for "failing to report 'substantial risk of injury to human health' from C8 (PFOA)," according to The Intercept. How dying cows led to a $671M settlement - Columbus Business First This cow died about twenty, thirty minutes ago, Earl said. It was contaminated with high levels of PFOA. The problem had to be Dry Run, he thought. See how thats all wallered down? Hunting had been one of Earls greatest pleasures. 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. You notice them dark place there, all down through? Farmer Wilbur Earl Tennant's historic video showing mysterious cow I dont recall him drinking, Deitzler says. Studies have found potential links between PFOA exposure and high cholesterol, thyroid disorders, and testicular and kidney cancers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. ''Rob's letter lifted the curtain on a . You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. The Case Against DuPont - Type Investigations These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. 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. He toldThe Intercept in 2015 that it bubbled up out of glass containers and "was everywhere." Farmer uncovers company's dark secret after cows kept dying: 'An At the end of the movie, I had a revelation. During manufacturing processes, PFAS chemicals are released into the air, soil, and water around industrial facilities, the EPA reports. The Teflon Toxin, Part 2: Wilbur Tennant vs. DuPont on Vimeo In time, the connection between the Tennants and DuPont would run as deep as the Ohio River. 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. 1: The Farm. Wilbur Tennant passed away on May 15, 2009 at the age of 67 in Washington, West Virginia. 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. 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 . 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 if it weren't for one West Virginia farmer, Wilbur Tennant, we still might not know much about them. AWSALB is an application load balancer cookie set by Amazon Web Services to map the session to the target. This cookie is set by the provider Akamai Bot Manager. Not even buzzards and scavengers would eat them. 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. Tennant Farm, December 1999, from DuPont Cattle Team Report. How accurately does Dark Waters depict the twists and turns of this maze? 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. On paper, Rob Bilott didnt appear to be one of those crusading lawyers in legal thrillers. Exposure: Poisoned Water, Corporate Greed, and One Lawyer's Twenty-Year Battle against DuPont. The farm would have stretched even longer if one of Wilbur Tennant's brothers, Jim, did not sell 66 acres to the DuPont company in the early 1980's for a landfill they were going to create for their factory. Dark Waters and the True Story of Lawyer Rob Bilott | Time SiteLock sets this cookie to provide cloud-based website security services. In the 1990s Wilbur began to notice weird deformities in his cows and some of them were even dying. She had spent the summer in the hollow, drinking out of Dry Run until shed started to act strangely. 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. The True Story of 'Dark Waters': How Accurate are the Characters? - The Home. After this sale, Tennant's cattle started to become sick and Tennant began to understand that . The smell was odd. 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 . But what about the alarming moment when a fire breaks out at the home of Joseph Kigers father, who shares his name? 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. They are still in all of us.. 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. Its just like that other calf up yonder, he said, panning over the matted grass. Bilott created a timeline that showed what DuPont and 3M knew about the chemicals. The company told the family that they wanted to use the land to . 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. With Sue Bailey, Bucky Bailey, Ken Wamsley, Wilbur Tennant. This is the hundred and seventh calf thats met this problem right here. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. death of 260 cattle in West Virginia. There is about a teacup or so full of itits a real dark yeller. The pattern element in the name contains the unique identity number of the account or website it relates to. Jim Tennant and his wife, Della, sold DuPont a 66-acre tract of land that became part of the Dry Run Landfill. Tennants Farm Pond Dam (in Wood County, WV) - HomeTownLocator The problem, he thought, was not what they were eating but what they were drinking. Wilbur Earl Tennant, 67 of New England passed away suddenly at his residence May 15, 2009. 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. Anyone could see that something was terribly wrong, not only with the landfill itself but with the agencies responsible for monitoring it. When their attorney, Robert Bilott of Cincinnati, asked the EPA to order DuPont to stop using C8, the company sought a restraining . The use of these cookies is strictly limited to measuring the site's audience. Bilott is back in court again. DuPont: Knowingly Poisoning the Public | Brittany Readel But two years before 3M announced its phaseout in 2000, the company informed EPA officials for the first time that PFOA and PFOS accumulate in human blood, take years to leave the body and dont break down in the environment. Earl retired from the WV Department of Highways as an equipment operator. Issued by Microsoft's ASP.NET Application, this cookie stores session data during a user's website visit. Nor was it on the list of substances regulated by the EPA. Next door to Tennant's farm was a landfill owned by E.I. Did they think no one would notice? This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. "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.". 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. He zoomed out and panned over to an industrial pipe spewing froth into the creek. It stars Mark Ruffalo as Bilott, along with Anne Hathaway, Tim Robbins, Bill Camp, Victor Garber, Mare . oh, two-thirds bigger than it should be., The kidneys, too, looked abnormal. Tennant recounted to anyone who would listen that he'd lost about 100 calves and 50 cows over the years. The sometimes contentious tenor of Bilotts relationship with Wilbur Tennant is also true to life. PFOA is part of a larger class of PFAS chemicals. Yes, DuPont is still in business, although it has struggled slightly to survive independently from time to time due to its poor public reputation. 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). Earl had sought help, but no one would step up. Drawing Parallels between the Dupont Chemical accident and The Westlake DuPont's Washington Works plant in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Call him, they suggested. Her eyes were sunk deep in her head. A downstate Illinois native, Hawthorne joined the Tribune in 2004 after covering the environment and state government in Ohio, Illinois and Florida. 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 . The cookie is used to store and identify a users' unique session ID for the purpose of managing user session on the website. The symptoms shown in the movieincluding such discolorations as blackened teethare also similar to the ones that Tennant really did videotape before sending the tapes to Bilott. Bilott has spent more than twenty years litigating hazardous dumping of the chemicals perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS). In his research, Bilott had come across a DuPont letter that referred to a chemical known as . The calf was engulfed in a black, humming mist. The underdog was a farmer whose family worked the land for generations, building it from a small operation to a thriving livelihood. One tooth had an abscess so large he reckoned he could stick an ice pick clear under it. Tennant's farm is close to a newly DuPont-owned landfill. Wilbur Tennant shot this video in the late 1990s on his property in West Virginia. The farmhouse stood at the foot of a sloping meadow that rose into a bald knob. 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. They just turn their back and walk on. In less than two years he had lost at least one hundred calves and more than fifty cows. The flies hummed as loud as bees. 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 story started in Parkersburg, West Virginia, home to about 32,000 people and about a three-hour drive due east of Cincinnati.