Martha K. Huggins, Ph.D.
Let’s Write a Play:
"Scripting the Economics, Science, and
Politics of Death”
In 1940, my father-in-law,
George Findlay Willison, created and edited, Let’s Write a Play (Harper), a compendium of plays written by
children attending the Hessian Hills School that he Co-Directed (1929-1935). A private progressive school located in New
York State’s Croton-on-Hudson, designed in the spirit of John Dewey and other
progressive educators, was fertile soil for eliciting the best from youthful
minds.
In 2016, I am transforming George’s work and his collaborative spirit
into a project of ‘interactive journalism’:
Will you cooperate with me in creating a play about the economics, science,
and politics of death?
This article on shallow
well injection of potentially deadly chemicals, may not right now, but can over
time produce a collaborative play, “Fifteen Lethal Acts of Shame,” about how
economics, science, and politics enhance environmental disasters and promote deaths.
Besides making Key West a better place, our ‘interactive journalism’ could encourage
making news for print and visual
media more democratic. And hey, maybe “Key
West Fringe” will be interested in producing our play.
Scientific
and Political Questions
·
Could Key West and Stock Island become dangerously
water-polluted like Flint, Michigan—a city now declared a ‘federal disaster
area’ for its lead-contaminated water that everyone has been using and paying their
water bill for non-use for over a year
now?
·
Could Key West’s and Stock Island’s water
end up like “94 water systems across 27 states,”[i]
whose water, soil, and air are polluted by “perfluorooctanoic acid”--a chemical
product used for hundreds of products, including Teflon, some Scotchguard
products, and the foam that extinguishes fires?
DuPont’s version of this deadly chemical, ‘C-8,’ is estimated to be in
the blood of 99 percent of all Americans—and it never will completely break
down[ii]?
·
Have our local naval bases[iii]
and the adults and children who live and visit
there been contaminated by ground residues from the “Aqueous
film forming [fire fighting] foams (AFFF) that contain… perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA)…or perfluorooctanesulfonic acid
(PFOS),[iv] The
former the chemical substance is what DuPont Chemicals calls C-8?
If a Chemical is Not
Found Does it Not Exist?
No
such chemicals contamination has been reported at our Southernmost military
bases, you say. That’s very true, I’ve looked at the annual reports for
surrounding areas and there is no mention of what in this article I’ll call
FPSs. But do our Southernmost military
bases even get tested by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection or
the Navy for these chemicals? Answer:
The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Florida
Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) do not require testing—for
example, in the Lower Keys shallow or deep water injection wells and the Stock
Island landfill--for FPSs. There is
no federal, state, County, or local
government mandate that such testing be done, even though there is now firm
evidence--and there has been for some years, including by the very chemical
companies producing these dangerous chemicals— that PFS chemicals enter human and other animals’ bodies through
water and land contamination. Once injected into shallow or deep water
wells, the contaminated PFS ‘poop’ and ‘pee’ becomes a secondary source for
spreading contamination to other humans, animals, and to plant, land, and marine
life.
·
If deadly water and land pollution is
found to have resulted from government and corporate actions--such as from lies
and cover-ups—and/or from inaction—as in failures to heed experts’ warnings--should
Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), the Monroe County
Board of County Commissioners (BOCC), Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority (FKAA), and
Key West Government be held responsible for environmental and human devastation?
·
Is it sufficient for these entities to
claim that ‘there was no federal or state mandate to test for FPSs’?
The Back Story
This week the Key
West Citizen reported (1/16/2016) that Judge Cathy Sellers had ruled that
“Key West Resort Utilities can use two shallow injection wells to handle…treated
effulent[s] on Stock Island…”[v] Rationale: It’s cheaper to do that than build a more
costly deep and more effective deep-water injection well. It is common knowledge among engineering and
scientific communities that when liquids, such as ‘effluents,’ are injected
into shallow injection wells the human waste backs up and spills onto the
surrounding environment. Such back-ups
are already common with strong and persistent rains, like the Lower Keys have
seen recently--when many who have their own septic tanks see fecal matter and
urine spill out. One hears that this is
common after big rains at the Monroe County Jail, when the detention facility’s
own effluent well--as one cleaner reports—belches up ‘human waste sewage all
over the place.’
When
What You Don’t Know Kills You
Sharon Lerner, reporting for The Intercept, points
out that “Until recently, few people had heard much about chemicals like C8. One of
tens of thousands of unregulated industrial chemicals, perfluorooctanoic
acid, or PFOA — also called C8 because of the eight-carbon chain that
makes up its chemical backbone — had gone unnoticed for most of its eight or so
decades on earth, even as it helped cement the success of one of the world’s
largest corporations”—DuPont Chemicals. Some of the very negative health effects of
the C-8 version of DuPont’s PFS chemical[vi], Lerner’s
scientifically validated short list of heal problems includes, ulcerative
colitis, high cholesterol, pregnancy-induced hypertension, thyroid disease,
testicular and kidney cancer. The
effects of PFS contamination in humans
also includes high incidence of neonatal
deaths, immune system damage, and liver and endocrine system impairment. Scientists’ findings, “published in more than
three dozen
peer-reviewed articles, were striking, because the
chemical’s effects were so widespread throughout the body and because even very
low exposure levels were associated with health effects.”[vii]
C8 is in the blood of 99.7 percent of Americans,
according to a 2007 analysis of data
from the Centers for Disease Control, as well as in newborn human babies,
breast milk, and umbilical cord blood. A growing group of scientists have been
tracking the chemical’s spread through the environment, documenting its
presence in a wide range of wildlife, including Loggerhead sea turtles,
bottlenose dolphins, harbor seals, polar
bears, caribou, walruses, bald eagles, lions, tigers, and arctic birds.[viii]
Knowing that shallow injection wells are contra-indicated
as methods for dispatching human effluents, Dr. Henry Briceño, a scientist at
Florida International University’s Southeast Environmental Research Center, informed
a May 2015 meeting of the Monroe County Board of Commissioners (BOCC) that, “We know that if we inject water in those shallow
wells it will boomerang back to the surface” and pollute what is around the
well and beyond. The Nature Conservancy’s Chris Bergh went on to argue at the
same meeting, according to the Blue Paper’s coverage (5/22/15), that “based on these
studies the AWT [effluent] is going to come up….There will be an impact on the
environment. [So let’s] go for now with
the devil that we do know and…not inject wastewater into these shallow wells.”
But, I’m talking about a devil we don’t know: the
strong probability of their being PFS
water contamination in our marine water, drinking water, and at the Stock
Island landfill. Of course, such pollution will surely increase with shallow
wells belching up the effluvium injected in them. How so?
As a recent Florida State graphic by Taro Gomi remind us:
We poop and pee, and these effluents are now officially allowed
to be—according to Florida Judge Cathy Sellers’ recent ruling--fast-driven into
shallow injection wells which predictably will spill over onto the ground and/or
directly into the water ways that house such wells. And how about the Stock Island landfill being
regularly borrowed into by iguanas (the County has hired a business to get rid
of them periodically); which allows potentially contaminated leachates[x]-- “any liquid that, in the course of
passing through matter, extracts soluble or suspended solids, or any other
component”--to flow (especially after landfill-eroding
rains) onto the topsoil below.
What PFS products might have gotten into Stock
Island’s landfill? Forn example, Teflon-coated
cookware, 3M’s original Scotchguard, Stainmaster fabric protection, “Gore-Tex
and other waterproof clothing; coatings for eye glasses and tennis rackets;
stain-proof coatings for carpets and furniture; fire-fighting foam; fast food
wrappers; microwave popcorn bags; bicycle lubricants; satellite components; ski
wax; communications cables; and pizza boxes.”[xi]
To
put this personally, every time someone’s poop or pee effluent gets propelled
out by a shallow water well injection and ends up in surrounding water or soil,
or when it rains hard and Stock Island’s landfill leaks from Iguana borrowing
into the landfill, our water and soil are compromised-- even if you don’t live
on Stock Island itself.
Some leachate content apparently is tested at Stock
Island by landfill inspectors, but not yet for PFS. Obviously, most of us are
not pooping and peeing at Stock Island’s landfill, but birds and Iguanas and other wild life do poop
and pee PFSs on the Landfill, contaminating it in the process.
PFSs
Will Out Live US and Cannot be Eliminated by Chemical Treatment
PFSs are bio resistant
and so do not break down of their own accord.
They will still be on the Earth when we are long gone. And PFS cannot be treated away chemically. Monroe County and Florida’s Judge Sellers may
be insuring that Lower Keys waters and soil make a fast and furious
contribution to the enduring presence of PFS contamination in southernmost
Florida.
However, with the EPA maybe about to move toward requiring
soil and water testing for PFS, Florida’s
Department of Environmental Protection has published in 2013 a document listing six
chemicals found in Florida waters of “emerging concern” to the department.[xii]
Among these, Sucralose—“non-nutritive
sweeteners” that pass “through waste water treatment systems with virtually no
degradation, [and are] unaffected by chlorination and tertiary grade
treatment”--were given greatest attention, in part as a ‘detector’ for other
such chemicals. At the beginning and end of the FDEP’s list of ‘emerging’ pollutants in Florida waters, were
(#1) Brominated fire retardants (almost
always containing PFS) and (#6) “Perfluorinated
Compounds” (PFS). The former were described by the FDEP as, “Bioaccumulative, endocrine
disrupting, toxic, persistent; the latter was designated, “Bioaccumulative,
[and] Endocrine disrupting.”
Well, now we know that as of
2013, the FDEP formally knew of the
severe health consequences of FPS pollution and recognized its presence in
Florida waterways. Still, no evidence of
testing for its presence, however.
Chemicals Kill, Especially When Collusion Hides Their
Lethalness
But this and my next week’s article will show, hopefully
along with your insights, that what
kills in not merely just the presence of unknown chemicals but especially the
potentially criminal
acts of corporate executives, their
high-paid in-house lawyers, and the government regulators who often work
together with them and who either fail to test forchemicals known to be
dangerous or test for them and then hide
test results.
·
Power
and Death. Would our Monroe
County and City officials use their power to deny or even to actively hide
water and/or landfill pollution that could permanently damage the lives of constituents?
·
The
Play’s the Thing. The known actions of corporate chemical
producers and government officials and their agents are the subjects of our
play, “Fifteen Lethal Acts of Shame.”
·
The
script for corporate and government officials’ doing these
things has been put together and routinely performed for at least 125 years and
consistently ignored by those of us who are become victims of their well-worn and lethal script.
So let’s try
‘interactive journalism’ and develop with facts the following script for all to
see and hear. You can share what you
know and I will do the same, while requesting
that research and media colleagues participate.
Scripting Environmental
Disaster: Flesh Out Each Scene with Examples and Actors
1.
Save Money/Enhance Profits: Cost-saving/-cutting
decisions are made with respect to a potential environmental and human threat.
2.
Government
Transparency Claims: ‘The landfill chemicals are monitored
annually’; ‘chemical findings are on-line’; ‘government committees have been
established to hear complaints’; ‘everything is under control and operating
according to law.’
3.
Experts
Prevail. Chemical facts understandable only by government
insiders or chemical experts.
Stock Island Chemicals:
fldeploc.dep.state.fl.us/www_wacs/Reports/SW_Facility_Testsite_Results_Date_res.asp?txtFacility=79636&txtBegin=01%2F01%2F1999&txtEnd=01%2F11%2F2016&cboOutput=B&cmdCheckForm=Submit
4. Evidence Contrary to Corporation’s
and/or Government’s Scripts are Ignored/Stifled. Using
cherry-picked “science” or cost-saving promises, backed by a chemical corporation’s and/or government’s
in-house ‘science’ experts, and the power
of these entities to silence alternative “scientific” evidence.
5. Citizens on their own Collect
Evidence of Environmental Dangers and their Lethal Consequences, with
this evidence discredited--until it cannot be…. Lois Gibbs, Love Canal,
www.imdb.com/title/tt0084262/;
Flint,
MI: Mona Hanna-Attisha, www.democracynow.org/2016/1/15/flint_doctor_mona_hanna_attisha_on
6.
Whistle-blowers,
Citizen Activists, and the Free Press warn publics but their evidence is discredited by the powers
that be. The city’s free press gets wind
of the environmental danger and looks into it, with its exposés initially
ignored, dismissed, and discredited.
7.
Truth
Discovered and Hidden. Corporate officials learn early—sometimes
decades before the public--that their chemical product has lethal consequences,
yet they continue to produce and dump it.
Monsanto: http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2985458/monsanto_knew_all_along_secret_studies_reveal_the_truth_of_roundup_toxicity.html;
DuPont and C-8: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/10/magazine/the-lawyer-who-became-duponts-worst-nightmare.html
8.
People
Are Sick and Dying. Too many people get sick, and too much
environmental destruction becomes obvious for a corporation or government to be
able to continue asserting that ‘all is well, scientifically.’
(Asbestos cover-up: http://www.asbestos.com/asbestos/cover-up.php)
(DuPont and C-8: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/10/magazine/the-lawyer-who-became-duponts- worst-nightmare.html)
9.
Citizen
pressure on
government intensifies to explain the environmental conditions that are
damaging or could be impairing human and
animal health and the environment (See Flint Michigan today)
10.
Lawsuits are filed
by environmentalists and for those sickened by a denied and covered up
environmental danger
11.
Small
Bits of Corporate Money Thrown at
Victims to buy off their charges and
negative publicity
12.
A
Government Investigative Commission is established to
‘learn the truth.’
13.
Lawsuits continue
with most awardees gaining little from these payouts, even though most of us
assume such lawsuits ‘pay off big time.’
14.
Call
for criminal penalties for the corporations and/or government
officials involved who knew of the environmental/human problems and covered
them up. Civil
penalties are, at most, the norm, with culpable corporations settling and stipulating
‘no criminal acts have been committed.’ Government
officials--covered by ‘Directors’ and Officers’ liability insurance
purchased by taxpayer money—suffer no
real financial consequences.
15.
Remediating Environmental Contamination Ends Up Costing Taxpayers More Than the
Original Allegedly too Expensive Fix.
Stay
tuned for Next Week’s posting. I’ll develop these scenes, hopefully with
your examples and mine. Think: Johns-Manville (Asbestos cover-up), Monsanto
(Agent Orange; RoundUp), Hooker Chemical (Love Canal), Flint, Michigan (Lead in
water), DuPont Chemical (C-8 chemical cover-up), and the lower keys shallow
well injection legal decision and its possible outcomes.
[i]
Nathaniel Rich, “The Lawyer
who Became DuPont’s Worst Nightmare” 1/17/2016
[ii]
http://theparalegallitigator.com/found-in-the-blood-of-99-7-percent-of-americans-and-it-never-breaks-down/
[iii] “Chemicals
used on military sites appear to be a major part of the problem. “Water testing
done in or near military bases, which isn’t yet complete, has already shown
that the chemicals spread into public drinking water systems around Willow
Grove, Pease, and a third base — Eielson, in Alaska,” the report said.” See http://www.wateronline.com/doc/military-bases-linked-to-drinking-water-contamination-0001; http://www.13newsnow.com/story/news/military/2016/01/20/fentress-drinking-water-contaminated/79083224/
[vi]
The bio-persistent chemicals, that are labeled PFSs
in this article, include “perfluorooctanoic acid,” known by DuPont
Chemicals as ‘C-8’ and also labeled
“PFOA” (perfluorooctanoic acid), as well
as the “PFOS” chemicals (perfluorooctane sulfonate).
[viii]
Ibid, reference ‘vii’
[ix]
“FDEP
Pilot Study on the Occurrence of Emerging Substances of Concern (ESOCs) in
Florida’s Flowing Waters,” https://www.dep.state.fl.us/water/bioassess/docs/bcpost/2013/ESOC-Presentation-Oct2013.pdf
[x] “A leachate is any liquid that, in the course of passing
through matter, extracts soluble or suspended solids, or any other component of
the material through which it has passed.
[xi]
Ibid, reference ‘vii’
