My brilliant daughter (I have two) recently sent me a link to a disturbing story. It has to do with surface water and groundwater contamination in Parkersburg, WV, by DuPont. The offending compound was perfluorooctanoic acid, also known as C8, which is a key ingredient in Teflon and many other products. C8 was dumped in a landfill that leaked, resulting in the fatal poisoning of cattle who drank out of the contaminated creek. The descriptions are horrible. Eventually the well water in the town where the landfill was located became contaminated.

DuPont knew at least as early as the 1960s that C8 was toxic and needed to be handled with extreme care. However, it, and many other chemicals, are only loosely regulated. And it appears that workers in the plant in Parkersburg who worked with C8 suffered some severe health issues, including having babies with birth defects. It’s a grim and tragic story.

One of the most striking things to me was how the people who sought to bring to light what was going on with C8 were treated. They were ostracized by their neighbors and even threatened. People feared that if a big stink was raised, DuPont would up and leave the community, taking more than 1,000 jobs with them. 

The response by West Virginia’s regulators was, to put it mildly, anemic. Finally, after more than 20 years of contamination, USEPA was able to crack down. Sort of. DuPont paid a lot of money for their contamination, but for many people it was too late, as they had already passed away.

This reminds of the response in West Virginia after last year’s spill of 4-methylcyclohexane methanol, a coal preparation foaming agent, into the Elk River, contaminating Charleston’s drinking water supply. Again, regulations and especially inspections and enforcement were feeble. Again, there seemed to be a pervasive fear of making the responsible industry upset. Coal and chemicals are probably the two major industries in West Virginia, also two industries most prone to contaminating our water resources. And it seems to me West Virginia has made a Faustian bargain with them.