Introduction
“Laid to Waste” is a 52 minute documentary which examines the impact of a
group of waste processing facilities on the Chester, PA neighborhood in
which they are located.
Residents have questioned the repeated selection of their neighborhood as a
destination for trash and infectious waste. Slowly, they have uncovered
the forces that have placed the facilities in their community. The trail
leads through a web of powerful political forces and into a controversy
surrounding the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
“Laid to Waste” tells the story through the voices of residents, local
leaders, politicians, plant representatives, and environmental officials.
Since its completion in April 1996, “Laid to Waste” has been broadcast on
Philadelphia’s WHYY TV-12, WYBE TV-35, DUTV Cable 54, and on Free Speech
TV. “Laid to Waste” won a Silver Apple Award from the National
Educational Media Network and won third prize at the World Population Film
and Video Festival. It is currently being shown at colleges, universities
and law schools throughout the country.
“Laid to Waste” was produced independently by Robert Bahar and George
McCollough. Associate producers were Deborah Rudman and Nancy Updike.
Support for this program was provided by the Philadelphia Independent
Film/Video Association Subsidy Program, the Pennsylvania Council on the
Arts, Drexel University Television (DUTV Cable 54), the Drexel University
Honors Program, and the New Liberty Productions Subsidy Grant Program.
The Story – Overview
Zulene Mayfield lives next door to the largest trash incinerator in the state (7th largest in the nation) and a few doors away from a plant that can
process 288 tons of infectious medical waste per day. The county’s
sewage treatment plant sits near her neighbors’ homes, a block away. A
fourth plant, which will process petroleum-contaminated soil, is planned
to join the three facilities already located in the Chester, PA
neighborhood known as the West End.
Daily, trucks from Pennsylvania, Delaware, and as far away as Virginia
roll past the homes on 2nd street in Chester, delivering thousands of
tons of waste. Residents believe that their lives are being disrupted and
that the air that they breathe is being polluted. A grassroots
organization called “Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living”
(CRCQL) has taken an active role in opposing the facilities and has
endeavored to determine the plants’ impact on the community. The waste
processing facilities argue that they are safe neighbors and that they
bring much needed jobs to the Chester neighborhood.
“Laid to Waste” is the story of a community dealing with the issue of
environmental injustice. The residents slowly work towards a goal: to
discover and confront the forces which have chosen their community for
such facilities. Though CRCQL receives threats and their office is
vandalized, the group continues to protest and to formally challenge the
waste industry. A controversy surrounding an obscure legal maneuver used
by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court draws state-wide attention to their
situation, and ultimately brings the Pennsylvania House Judiciary
Committee to Chester’s West End.
“Laid to Waste” introduces the viewer to the residents who live a few
hundred feet from the facilities. It includes interviews with Zulene
Mayfield (Chairperson, Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living),
Peter Kostmayer, (Former EPA Region III Administrator), State Senator
Jeffrey Piccola (Former Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee), State
Representative Thaddeus Kirkland, Leroy H. Carter (Manager, Community
Relations, Delaware County Resource Recovery Facility), Patrick Andersen
(S.E. Pennsylvania Section Chief, Office of the Superfund, EPA), Attorney
Jerome Balter, and many other community leaders and residents.
To order a copy of Laid to Waste, please contact:
Berkeley Media LLC
Saul Zaentz Media Center
2600 Tenth Street, Suite 626
Berkeley, CA 94710
Phone: 510-486-9900
Fax: 510-486-9944
Email: info@berkeleymedia.com
www.berkeleymedia.com/catalog/berkeleymedia/films/american_studies/laid_to_waste
Note that there is a special link on the website in order to request a discount, for example for activists, community organizations, church groups, etc.
To contact the producers:
Robert Bahar
Email: rbahar10@yahoo.com
Return to the Environmental Racism in Chester Homepage
Last modified: 13 April 2006
http://www.ejnet.org/chester/documentary.html