RACHEL’s Hazardous Waste News #96

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Facing lawsuits today, facing victims harmed by industrial
pollution, the captains of industry plead ignorance as a defense.
They say, “We didn’t know. Twenty years ago, we didn’t know these
chemicals were toxic. We didn’t know that putting them into the
ground would contaminate the soil or the groundwater. We were
ignorant. We’re sorry, but it’s isn’t our fault. No one knew.”

As we continue our series, “What we must do,” we will now examine
the truth behind such claims. After all, if destruction of the
earth’s resources by chemical dumping has happened because of
ignorance, then one set of remedies will seem appropriate. If, on
the other hand, destruction of the earth and the poisoning of
people has been deliberate, then the remedies we seek must be
quite different.

We have spent this past summer looking carefully at the history
of American industry and its effects on the earth and on people.
In the next few weeks, we will present evidence that 30 years
ago–in the 1950s (and in many cases long before)–the full
consequences of environmental pollution were recognized. The
geographic extent of the problem was not known, but individual
polluters had in hand all the key pieces of information that they
needed and that they have today. Specifically, they knew about
the hazards of the chemicals being handled, the consequences of
air pollution, the whys and wherefors of water pollution,
including both surface and groundwater pollution. The problems
associated with landfilling were recognized. The creation of
what we call Superfund sites was understood as it was happening.
The present situation did not come about by accident or by
inadvertence. It came about because of deliberate decisions.

Furthermore, government agencies had available to them the same
information that industry had. In many cases, governments had
better information because they could see the big picture as the
information flowed in. Government agencies chose to interpret
their situation to conclude that they did not have legal power to
curb the pollution, but they clearly had plenty of power to study
the problems, publicize the problems and generate public support
for curbing the flagrant destruction of people and the earth. The
failure of governments adds up to a story of timid collusion.

Industry and government knew in the 1950s that all landfills and
lagoons leak. No one even argued otherwise. So far as we can
determine, the first people who started saying that “secure
landfills” could be built were officials inside the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency in the early 1970s. We can find
no peer-reviewed scientific or engineering literature in which
authors say they believe a leakproof landfill can be built; these
ideas seem to have been born only in reports created by
consulting firms and by government officials, reports not subject
to scientific peer review. Industrialists and government
specialists knew that chemicals dumped in the ground would
contaminate soil and water. They knew that poisoned air would
make some people sick and that others would be killed. This
knowledge evidently made no difference to the people in power. It
is not a pretty picture.

In coming weeks, we will present evidence to support these
conclusions.
–Peter Montague, Ph.D.

Descriptor terms: landfilling; water pollution; culpability;
liability; responsibility; epa;

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