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1:05

This episode of SWINDLED may contain

1:07

graphic descriptions or audio recordings

1:09

of disturbing events which may not be suitable

1:12

for all audiences. Listener discretion

1:14

is advised.

1:17

Nearly all adults living on

1:19

Martinique and neighboring Guadeloupe

1:21

have traces of Claudicone in their blood.

1:23

Tons of the chemical was sprayed on

1:26

banana crops, contaminating soil,

1:28

rivers and coastal waters.

1:30

Stop me if you've heard this

1:33

one. In the late 1490s, a

1:35

Spanish explorer named Christopher

1:37

Columbus washed ashore a beautiful

1:40

land inhabited by indigenous

1:42

people.

1:43

In a few centuries time, after some resistance,

1:46

those indigenous people would be eradicated

1:48

by British and French settlers through

1:51

violence, disease or free boat rise

1:53

to Dominica and replaced with enslaved

1:56

Africans.

1:57

Obviously, I'm talking about the Caribbean.

2:00

Archipelago of Guadeloupe and

2:02

the French West Indies. In

2:04

a few more bloody centuries, Guadeloupe

2:07

and the neighboring island of Martinique

2:09

would officially become French territories.

2:12

The sugarcane turned into banana plantations.

2:15

The slavery was abolished, at

2:17

least on paper anyway. The same

2:19

people owned the land, make the rules,

2:22

and collect all the money. At the same

2:24

time, the approximately 750,000 new natives of the islands suffer

2:26

from chronic unemployment,

2:31

widespread poverty, food shortages,

2:33

and political unrest. In modern-day

2:36

Guadeloupe, you will also find the natives

2:38

enjoy the world's highest rate of prostate

2:40

cancer. It's always been assumed

2:43

that the diagnoses were related to the 300

2:45

tons of Clorticone that covers one-third

2:48

of the land surface and surrounding waters

2:50

of the islands. Clorticone

2:53

is a pesticide – a colorless,

2:55

powdery substance that the masculist

2:57

workers would apply with their bare hands on

3:00

the base and surrounding soil of banana

3:02

trees. Clorticone was incredibly

3:05

effective against the banana weevil,

3:07

a relentless little bugger that has been known to

3:10

destroy roots and ruin entire crops.

3:13

In addition to being incredibly effective, Clorticone

3:16

is also incredibly persistent,

3:19

meaning the effects of the pesticide are seemingly

3:21

everlasting in the environment. It's

3:23

a selling point because it takes an estimated 400

3:26

years for it to degrade in some soils

3:29

naturally, and it doesn't dissipate

3:31

in water. Instead, Clorticone is ingested

3:34

by the bottom feeders and bio-accumulates

3:36

up the food chain until a more concentrated

3:39

version reaches you. And

3:41

as it turns out, Clorticone is persistent

3:43

in the human body as well. The pesticide

3:46

continually reprocesses in the liver

3:48

and fatty tissue and takes almost 200 days

3:51

to flush out. Again, Guadalupe

3:53

and Martinique are covered in 300 tons

3:57

of Clorticone, almost 95% of the population

4:00

has traces of it in their blood. Epidemiological

4:03

studies have shown that chloridicone exposure is

4:06

associated with long-term health problems

4:08

including cancer, premature births,

4:11

and cognitive and motor development disorders.

4:14

Long-term effects have only recently become more understood,

4:17

but the World Health Organization classified

4:19

chloridicone as a probable human

4:21

carcinogen back in 1979. The

4:25

United States banned the substance from production

4:27

and use in 1976. France,

4:30

on the other hand, did not ban the use

4:32

of chloridicone until 1990. In

4:35

fact, a French company bought the patent for

4:37

chloridicone and began manufacturing it

4:40

in Brazil for use in Guadalupe, Martinique,

4:42

and other locations. Even

4:44

after mainland France prohibited its

4:46

use, the government exempted the French

4:49

West Indies from the chloridicone ban until 1993.

4:53

The owners were also allowed to use their remaining

4:55

stock up, and when that was depleted, the

4:58

ban was circumvented by illegally

5:00

importing chloridicone to the islands under

5:02

a different name, a practice that continued

5:04

until roughly 2003. As

5:07

usual, it was an entirely financially-based

5:10

decision to keep using this particular

5:12

pesticide. There were alternatives

5:15

to chloridicone, but chloridicone was

5:17

cheaper and again persistent. So

5:20

persistent that tens of thousands of acres

5:22

of agricultural land in Guadalupe and Martinique

5:25

remain unusable, leaving the islanders

5:27

almost entirely dependent on the importation

5:29

of food.

5:30

For the first time, a French president has

5:32

publicly acknowledged chloridicone poisoning in

5:35

the French West Indies, and he has asked

5:37

for a report to explain the magnitude of the

5:39

contamination.

5:40

If no viable solution is found soon, Martinique's

5:43

land will stay soiled by

5:44

this poisonous pesticide for centuries

5:46

to come.

5:48

For years, the French government wouldn't even

5:50

acknowledge the issue, much less take responsibility.

5:54

But Emmanuel Macron finally did so in 2018. He

5:57

visited the islands and labeled the chloridicone.

6:00

contamination and environmental scandal

6:02

enabled by quote collective blindness.

6:05

But Macron stopped short of saying that they should have

6:08

known better quote it should not

6:10

be said that it is carcinogenic.

6:15

In 2020 widespread protests

6:18

swept across Guadalupe and Martinique

6:20

when the French government ordered mandatory

6:22

COVID-19 vaccinations. The

6:25

islanders did not trust the Parisians to

6:27

have their best interests at heart. After

6:30

all was the same government that had no meaningful

6:32

remediation plan or action related

6:35

to Clorticon until 30 years had

6:37

passed. The same government that had approved

6:39

and prolonged the use of Clorticon in the first

6:42

place. Several environmental

6:44

organizations had filed a complaint against the government

6:46

for reckless endangerment back in 2006

6:48

but nothing had

6:51

ever come of it. But then almost 18

6:54

years later the investigation was complete

6:56

and the case was finally heard.

7:01

Marching on an island they say has

7:03

been poisoned by pesticide. Thousands

7:06

demand justice for a crime they say

7:09

is two decades in the making.

7:12

And then the case was promptly

7:14

dismissed. On

7:16

January 2nd 2023 the magistrates

7:19

from the High Court of Paris condemned

7:21

the use of Clorticon from 1973 to 1993 calling it quote an environmental

7:23

attack whose human

7:29

economic and social consequences affect

7:31

and will affect for many years the

7:33

daily life of the inhabitants of Guadalupe

7:36

and Martinique. At

7:39

the statute of limitations for any criminal

7:41

prosecutions had passed the court

7:43

wrote no individuals businesses

7:46

or governments could be held responsible.

7:48

After years of trying

7:50

to get the state to take responsibility

7:53

a French court has dismissed the

7:55

case citing that the accusations

7:57

of poisoning were passed the statute. of

8:00

limitations. They

8:02

did acknowledge that the pesticide's use

8:04

could be considered a health crisis.

8:08

Victims are appealing the ruling, calling

8:10

it a miscarriage of justice. The

8:13

activists plan to take their case all

8:15

the way to the European Court of Human

8:17

Rights if the French government fails

8:20

to respond.

8:22

The French court also asserted that nobody

8:24

knew the harmful effects of the pesticide

8:26

when it was in use. Even in the 1990s, the court

8:30

claimed, scientists had not established

8:32

links between clorticone and illnesses

8:34

in people. The statement appears

8:37

to be patently untrue. The

8:39

reason the World Health Organization labeled

8:42

clorticone a possible carcinogen

8:45

in 1979, the reason the US banned

8:47

clorticone use in 1976, and

8:49

the reason the patent was sold to a French company

8:52

in the first place is because there was

8:54

a suspected link between clorticone exposure

8:57

and human illnesses even back then.

9:00

It had all played out in the media and

9:02

the US courts for everyone to see in

9:04

a small town called Hopewell,

9:06

Virginia, where clorticone was solely

9:08

produced under the brand name, Keepone.

9:13

A chemical company is accused of knowingly

9:15

poisoning its workers and

9:17

the environment on this episode of

9:20

Swindled.

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slash swindled and save $10 on

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your first purchase. So many awful things

11:26

have happened to this town that rude people who don't

11:28

live here

11:41

have called it hopeless, Virginia. Once

11:44

the center of town burned down, twice

11:46

the economy fell apart, and once a passing barge

11:49

tore down a bridge leading into town. The

11:51

keep-on-mess is only the latest jinx.

11:55

A funny little jingle would usually

11:57

follow any mention of Hopewell, Virginia, that

11:59

this an earshot of someone familiar. I

12:03

smell, you smell, we all smell,

12:05

hope well. The clever

12:07

retort was usually something along the

12:09

lines of, smells like money to me. Hope

12:12

well, about twenty-five miles southeast

12:15

of Richmond, Virginia, was initially

12:17

constructed as a company town for DuPont's

12:19

dynamite factory, which was strategically

12:22

built near the lower James River for

12:24

optimal shipping and dumping. Allied

12:26

Chemical Corporation became the town's largest

12:29

employer when it moved into Hopewell in the

12:32

1920s. The New Jersey-based company started

12:34

out manufacturing ammonium nitrate fertilizer

12:37

pebbles and then switched to synthetic

12:39

fibers and then switched again to pesticides

12:41

in the post-war pesticide craze of

12:44

the 50s and 60s. By then,

12:46

according to the welcome signs on the highway

12:48

leading into town,

12:49

Hopewell, Virginia, was calling itself,

12:52

quote, the chemical capital of

12:54

the south.

12:55

One of the pesticides that Allied Chemical

12:58

invented was called keypone or

13:00

chloridicone, the end product of

13:02

mixing five other chemicals in the steel vat

13:05

before removing the moisture. The powdery

13:07

white substance left behind was used domestically

13:10

in roach and amp straps. The bulk

13:12

of it was shipped overseas to banana plantations

13:15

around Europe, South America and Central

13:17

America.

13:18

United Fruit was a big fan. The

13:20

gray powder is keypone, a powerful

13:22

insecticide much like Aldrin and DDT

13:25

and like those other insect killers, a persistent

13:27

chemical. It degrades slowly

13:30

in the environment and when it gets into the human

13:32

body, it lingers. Keypone crystals

13:34

enter individual body cells and disrupt

13:37

their function.

13:38

From 1966 to 1974, Allied

13:42

Chemical produced keypone in-house and

13:44

semi-monthly batches like some kind

13:47

of craft pesticide passion project.

13:49

Keypone was not one of Allied's best sellers.

13:52

It's $200,000 in annual sales

13:55

wasn't even significant enough for its own

13:57

line item and a $3 billion in revenue.

14:00

Allied listed on the company's financial reports.

14:03

Eventually the company partnered with smaller

14:05

chemical companies to produce keypone

14:07

and sell it back to them such as Hooker

14:09

Chemical and Niagara Falls New York. Not

14:12

yet infamous for burying 20,000 tons of

14:14

toxic chemicals in Love Canal, Allied

14:16

would provide all the ingredients and buy

14:18

all of the finished product. Hooker

14:21

Chemical agreed to make keypone for three

14:23

dollars per pound but

14:25

Hooker Chemical lost that exclusive

14:28

contract in 1973 when

14:30

a new upstart chemical company called

14:32

Life Science Products won the keypone

14:35

production bid at 54 cents per

14:37

pound. Two former Allied

14:39

chemical employees founded Life Science.

14:42

William Moore, the new company's president,

14:44

retired as Allied's Director of Agricultural

14:47

Research and Virgil Huntofte, the

14:49

former plant manager for Allied's Agricultural

14:52

Production Unit, became the plant manager

14:55

at Life Science. At different times

14:57

in their careers both men had been responsible

14:59

for the production of keypone at Allied.

15:03

Drawing on that expertise and a $175,000 loan,

15:05

the two men hastily threw together an operation

15:10

and a converted gas station on Randolph

15:12

Road in Hopewell to become the world's

15:14

only supplier of keypone. Twenty

15:17

working-class white men split across

15:19

two shifts, operated around the clock

15:21

for three dollars and 75 cents an hour to produce 6,000

15:25

pounds of keypone daily. One

15:28

woman was employed to work in the reception area.

15:31

Minorities were not hired, not

15:33

even to push a broom. In fact,

15:35

nobody had been hired to push a broom.

15:38

The factory floors and surfaces were covered

15:40

in keypone and its components within

15:42

days of starting production. Over

15:45

time there were piles of it everywhere, up

15:47

to five inches thick. There

15:49

were concrete-like balls in the parking

15:51

lots next to the annex buildings where the keypone

15:54

had mixed with water. Even the

15:56

picnic tables where the Life Science employees

15:58

ate lunch and drank coffee.

16:00

recovered in the stuff. Keep

16:02

on with the furry thick in the area.

16:06

You couldn't see. It was

16:08

more like a fog. The keep on was all

16:11

over the working area, all over the break

16:13

area. It was just virtually impossible

16:15

for anybody to walk in the plant and

16:18

go straight through and come back out without getting

16:20

the keep on all over.

16:24

Gloves and masks were not required

16:27

or provided by Life Science Products. There

16:29

were no company issued boots,

16:32

but the money was good. Overtime was easy

16:34

to come by because demand for the product

16:36

constantly increased and turnover

16:39

at the plant was high. Most workers

16:41

quit because they couldn't take it anymore. Take

16:44

what anymore? A new hire would ask.

16:47

The keep on shakes, replied an old

16:49

timer who had been working there for at

16:51

least two weeks. The

16:53

keep on shakes. You know the physical

16:56

symptoms from being smothered in a pesticide

16:58

for up to 80 hours a week. It starts

17:00

with dizziness and rashes. Then the

17:03

joints and liver begin to ache.

17:05

Your speech gets slurred. Your breath

17:07

gets short. You start dropping pounds.

17:09

Your eyes twitch rapidly. And your hands

17:12

begin to shake uncontrollably. They

17:14

said wait till you get the shakes because you're going to be,

17:16

you know, everybody else had the tremors the

17:18

same. And they said well Grasy you're going to get

17:20

them. And I thought it was a big joke.

17:24

That was a joke. Right and then when it started

17:26

it got real bad. I

17:28

went and I got to work. I had

17:30

to miss work a lot.

17:33

Some employees were instructed to rub Vaseline

17:35

on their faces to keep the dust off their skin

17:38

as a precaution. It was discovered later

17:40

that Vaseline did nothing but assist the keep

17:42

on and penetrating the skin. Donald

17:45

Fitzgerald who twice had to be taken from work

17:47

to the hospital said doctors couldn't diagnose

17:49

his shakes. And

17:52

John suggested it was nerves and told them to see a psychiatrist. Local

17:55

physicians did not have a clue. Several

17:57

employees had sought medical attention for the

17:59

keep on. shakes but were often accused

18:01

of drinking too much or they reckoned

18:04

it was stress related. The

18:06

sick employees were prescribed tranquilizers

18:08

or a shot of Valium in the ass as

18:11

one former employee described it to Gregory

18:13

S. Wilson, the author of Poison Powder,

18:16

a great new book about the Kepone disaster.

18:19

When Dale Gilbert, the 34-year-old

18:21

operations supervisor at the Life Science

18:24

Facility was told by a doctor in

18:26

June 1975 that

18:28

stress was causing the physical ailments

18:30

that he shared with the others. Dale

18:33

did not believe it. He had been working

18:35

in the plant full time for about six months.

18:37

He had lost up to 40 pounds in a matter of

18:39

weeks. Eventually he was shaking so

18:41

severely that he couldn't even go to work. The

18:44

only thing stressing out Dale was failing

18:47

health. People think of the

18:49

word disabled and they think he doesn't get up

18:51

and go to work but that's only like the tip

18:53

of the iceberg, Dale Gilbert told the

18:55

Washington Post. I'll tell you, it's

18:58

quite ego shattering. I've always,

19:00

since I was a kid, had my own responsibility,

19:03

making money, and all of a sudden

19:05

you can't go out and rake leaves. That's

19:07

a terrible thing. I don't think you can

19:09

describe it unless you go through it. Dale

19:13

Gilbert's wife set up an appointment for him

19:15

with Dr. Yee Nan Chau, a local

19:17

cardiologist who had just immigrated to the

19:19

area. I never saw anything like

19:21

it before, Dr. Chau told the New York Times.

19:24

I put him in the hospital and sent a blood sample

19:26

to the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta.

19:29

The CDC called Dr. Chau back after

19:32

a few days with alarming results. Dale

19:34

Gilbert had key bone in his blood,

19:37

they reported. It was basically

19:39

a new disease with unknown consequences.

19:42

Initially, only the symptoms could be treated.

19:45

They told me that I'm sterile, that

19:48

I have an increased chance

19:50

of cancer. I've had some damage

19:52

to my liver, my eyes, and some brain damage.

19:56

The Centers for Disease Control

19:58

also reported the findings to die.

19:59

Dr. Robert S. Jackson, an epidemiologist

20:03

at the Virginia Department of Health. Dr.

20:05

Jackson scheduled a surprise visit to the Life

20:07

Science Products Facility for July 23, 1975.

20:12

He arrived to find raw materials and finished

20:15

products scattered throughout the facility. Keypone

20:18

was everywhere, Dr. Jackson told

20:20

the New York Times. They were sloshing around

20:22

in it with no boots, gloves, or

20:24

respirators on. Dr.

20:26

Jackson said that the first worker he saw could

20:29

barely stand on his feet. The

20:31

23-year-old worker's eyes moved rapidly

20:34

and abnormally. He complained of chest

20:36

pains. Dr. Jackson arranged for

20:38

the man to be sent to the hospital and started

20:41

to examine the others. Several of

20:43

them were, and just as bad of shape. By

20:46

that evening, Dr. Jackson had admitted

20:48

seven Life Science Products employees to the

20:51

hospital. Hundreds more awaited testing,

20:53

but Dr. Jackson had seen enough. He

20:56

met with the owners of Life Science, William

20:58

Moore and Virgil Hentofte, and

21:00

informed them that if they did not voluntarily

21:02

shut down the plant, he would act on behalf

21:04

of the Department of Health and do it for them. Moore

21:07

and Hentofte agreed but were granted

21:09

an exemption to deplete their remaining stock

21:12

of ingredients as long as proper safety

21:14

equipment was used. The crisis

21:17

was only beginning.

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support our show and tell them we sent you. It's

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for good. Thanks to Honeylove.

22:54

Bill

22:58

Moyer brought the Keep Home Dust home on his clothes

23:00

and it wound up in the bodies of his wife and child.

23:03

Mrs. Moyer, like other wives, is showing

23:06

signs of the poisoning.

23:08

I've got a two year old son at home and

23:14

my husband is sterile.

23:16

He's the only child I've got and

23:19

he's got just about half as much

23:21

Keep Home in his system that I have.

23:25

As far as I know he might be sterile,

23:28

he may not be able to have a family of his own,

23:32

or he might have

23:34

brain damage and he just might

23:36

not make it. I don't know and he's all

23:38

I've got. And since

23:41

he's sterile I can't

23:43

have any more. He

23:46

was making good money but

23:49

now that I look back it wasn't worth it. Not

23:52

what we're facing right now. It's

23:57

just, I can't believe it.

24:09

After the discovery of key-pwn poisoning

24:12

and several employees at the Life Science Products

24:14

facility, widespread blood testing

24:16

took place in Hopewell, Virginia during

24:18

the summer of The

24:21

story became national news. 216 residents

24:23

tested positive, including 149 current Life Science employees.

24:30

76 of those employees had visible symptoms. 28 of

24:33

them were hospitalized. 14 of

24:35

the men, the most exposed, were

24:37

diagnosed the sterile. Including

24:40

Nicky Schoen, the 24-year-old

24:42

high school dropout had just gotten out of jail

24:45

and was trying to get his life back on track

24:47

by taking a job at the Life Science plant

24:50

in Hopewell. A few months later, he

24:52

was in the hospital, getting his head scanned

24:54

to see if the pesticide had been embedded

24:57

in his brain. Nicky turned

24:59

violent and suicidal. All

25:01

hope was lost. Who in the hell wants

25:03

a man that's got key-pwn and can't have

25:05

kids?

25:06

He rhetorically asked The Washington Post.

25:09

Nicky Schoen has the highest key-pwn counter

25:12

to his body of any of the victims. One

25:14

doctor says he has 37,000 times

25:16

more key-pwn in his liver than

25:18

is permitted in a public sewer. Now,

25:21

the doctors here at the Medical College of Virginia wonder

25:23

whether the abnormal readings they've gotten through

25:25

this brain scan machine can explain

25:27

Nicky's loss of memory, his talk of suicide,

25:30

the sometimes violent outbursts

25:32

that cause Nicky to smash his fists through a hospital

25:35

window. Other patients, normally

25:37

calm and responsible, have recently

25:39

turned violent too, injuring their wives

25:42

or children.

25:44

In many cases, key-pwn beat them to

25:46

the punch. Dale Gilbert's wife,

25:48

Jan Gilbert, was hospitalized with

25:50

an enlarged liver and an enlarged

25:53

spleen. Jan had simply greeted

25:55

her husband daily when he returned home from work

25:57

and washed his clothes.

25:59

I would wash those clothes, his Kepone

26:02

clothing, and then right

26:04

after that I would put a load of my little girl's

26:06

clothes in and my clothes. Well, it

26:09

was still in the washing machine and

26:11

the water wasn't dissolving it and

26:13

as a result we both would break out into

26:16

a rash.

26:17

Kepone was also found in the blood of 10 children

26:20

and wives of life science workers. According

26:22

to the New York Times of five known pregnancies

26:25

among life science personnel, two

26:27

resulted in stillbirths and one in

26:29

spontaneous abortion.

26:31

Some were born exposed. Some

26:34

of them were exposed later.

26:36

Kepone is transmissible through breast

26:38

milk and skin contact.

26:40

As a reminder, it is not recommended

26:43

to hand your baby to a man who is covered in pesticide

26:46

and shaking all the leaves. When

26:48

the effect started on you I could tell that in

26:50

my nervous system on my hand they would start shaking

26:52

real bad like that and then when they got to your feet they

26:54

would just, you couldn't hold yourself still.

26:56

You couldn't drink the cup of coffee without pouring it on you.

26:59

Do the symptoms last forever? In 1975,

27:02

nobody really knew. Dr.

27:06

Robert S. Jackson at the Virginia Department

27:08

of Health at the time said, quote,

27:10

we have little to no information on the long-term

27:13

effect of human exposure to low

27:15

levels of the material or what level

27:17

represents risk. The

27:19

fact that there was any risk at all was

27:22

news to Delbert White, the plant

27:24

supervisor at Life Science Products. Del

27:27

White was in constant contact with Kepone.

27:29

He was now sterile. His wife and nine-year-old

27:32

son had traces of it in their blood. The

27:34

former Marine claims he had concerns about

27:36

the toxicity of Kepone earlier

27:39

in the year and he brought those concerns to

27:41

Life Science ownership. Mr.

27:43

White says they lied to his

27:45

face.

27:46

I trusted two men

27:49

that stood in a room and told me that

27:51

there was absolutely nothing out there that could

27:53

hurt me. I trusted in the fact that

27:55

we had enough protection agencies now

27:58

that a man...

27:59

shouldn't have to walk into a plan and wonder

28:02

whether it's safe to work. The two men you trusted

28:04

with the two men who owned the plan. Mr. Murray and

28:06

Mr. Hunt also said and told me that there

28:08

was absolutely

28:09

nothing back there that would hurt a human

28:11

being. They let me down. They liked

28:13

him and for that reason I feel like that

28:16

they lied to these men also through

28:18

me. They lied. That's

28:21

a serious accusation to make. I

28:24

wish any man. I

28:26

just made it and without regret.

28:30

On the December 14th, 1975 episode

28:34

of the CBS News show 60 Minutes,

28:36

host Dan Rather asked Live

28:39

Science Products president William P.

28:41

Moore about that conversation with plant

28:43

supervisor Dale White. According

28:45

to him,

28:46

it never happened. Did you tell

28:48

him that Kipone was harmless? No.

28:53

That's for sure that we

28:55

would not have said a thing like that.

28:58

You didn't say that Kipone was harmless to humans? No.

29:02

William Moore would not say that because

29:05

he knew Kipone wasn't harmless.

29:08

Or did he?

29:09

Moore told Dan Rather that he had never seen

29:11

Allied Chemical's blue book on Kipone,

29:14

which is an extensive document that

29:16

Allied had provided to him that outlined

29:19

the safety precautions for dealing with the toxic

29:21

substance. It was published in 1961, 13 years

29:23

before Live

29:24

Science Products

29:26

started producing the chemical. Are

29:29

you familiar with these materials? No. Never

29:33

seen them. Never seen them. Right in the

29:35

summary, very top, the

29:38

characteristic effect of this compound is

29:40

the development of DDT-like tremors, the

29:43

severity of which depends upon dosage level

29:45

and duration of exposure, quote unquote,

29:47

from the first sentence of the summary. You

29:49

didn't know about this? No,

29:53

no.

29:55

That blue book on Kipone also included

29:58

the results of studies in which Kipone was a gave

30:00

cancer to rats and mice. Another

30:02

test at Ohio State University in 1962 determined

30:06

that keypone had the same adverse effects

30:08

on the human reproductive system as it

30:10

did on quail and other birds. An

30:13

internal memo from Allied acknowledged the

30:15

results too. The investigation of

30:17

this compound revealed it to be a very toxic

30:19

material if chronically ingested with

30:22

possible malignant effects. The

30:24

National Cancer Institute performed its own

30:26

keypone test in 1971 and

30:28

again found that the chemical caused cancer

30:31

in rats along with impaired fertility,

30:34

tremors, and other ill effects. The

30:36

results of those particular studies were never

30:39

publicly revealed until after the

30:41

Hopewell incident. The rumors

30:43

that Allied wanted the results buried, otherwise

30:46

in order to sell keypone it would have had

30:48

to spend more time and money on

30:50

more tests to get it approved. Instead

30:53

Allied chemical listed keypone as a single

30:55

ingredient for other pesticides which

30:57

allowed for more efficient maneuvering of governmental

31:00

red tape also explains when the company

31:02

decided to shift the bulk of it overseas.

31:06

So if Allied chemical was aware

31:08

of keypones toxicity one

31:11

could safely assume that life science products,

31:13

the manufacturer of the pesticide, would

31:16

also be familiar.

31:18

Not so according to company president

31:20

William Moore. Neither he nor

31:22

Virgil Hentoptie,

31:24

two men at one time responsible for

31:26

manufacturing keypone at Allied,

31:28

were aware of how dangerous it could be. And

31:31

despite having all of the knowledge at his fingertips

31:33

and a big blue book with a warning

31:36

on the cover, he didn't bother to even

31:38

thumb through it. Was he ignorant

31:41

and lazy? Or was he a liar?

31:44

According to Allied Chemical whose spokesperson

31:46

referred to William P. Moore as the quote

31:49

principal expert on keypone, he

31:51

was lying. The fact that Moore and

31:53

Hentoptie were so knowledgeable about the substance

31:56

was quote one of the reasons that led

31:58

the management to give the contract to this company.

32:01

Allied Chemical was not so subtly shifting

32:03

the blame. The company was quote, very

32:05

much distressed by the key-pone matter, but

32:08

legally we don't feel responsible.

32:11

That would

32:11

be for a court to decide. Multiple

32:14

lawsuits from 56 workers, their

32:16

wives and children, were filed against Allied

32:19

Chemical, Live Science Products, and Hooker

32:21

Chemical, seeking more than $100 million

32:24

in combined damages.

32:25

Until then, many

32:26

of the sick workers and their families lived

32:28

on Wirtman's compensation, about $149 a

32:31

week, but that would run out sooner

32:33

than later.

32:36

Most were hoping just to live long

32:38

enough to see that day. I mean I've

32:40

asked myself in three years am I going to

32:42

have a terminal case of cancer or in two

32:44

years will I have it? Maybe, you know,

32:46

a lot of it gives the rest the cancer

32:49

that they give it to, but a lot of things give rash

32:52

cancer, don't give humans cancer, but I

32:54

got to figure my odds of having

32:56

cancer in the future is

32:59

a lot better than maybe yours.

33:02

Maybe,

33:03

but the results of a parallel environmental

33:05

investigation revealed that nobody's

33:07

future and hope well looked promising.

33:10

The scope of the crisis suddenly ballooned.

33:13

We have measured key-pone in

33:16

the river, in the sludge

33:19

or the slurry at the bottom of the river in the dirt. We've

33:22

measured it in shellfish and

33:24

fish miles

33:26

and miles and miles down river from the plant, 30

33:29

to 40 miles. All of this

33:31

area in which Hope Well resides

33:34

provides the aquifer for the entire southeastern

33:37

Virginia and Tidewater

33:39

area. Whether it will be now

33:41

or six months from now or 10 years from now,

33:44

key-pone will be in their water supply. The

33:47

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

33:50

and the Virginia State Water Control Board found

33:53

traces of key-pone in the fish and sediment

33:55

in the James River. It was later found

33:58

miles down river from Hope Well in the Chesapeake

34:00

Bay. Fish sold in markets

34:02

on the east coast where it discovered that I've been contaminated.

34:05

The

34:05

problem was worsening by the day. Russell

34:08

Train, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, said

34:11

today the problem is worsening. President

34:13

indications are

34:16

that it does migrate.

34:21

There are indications that it is moving

34:23

up the

34:25

bay, at least somewhat

34:28

at the present time. If

34:31

you assume that

34:33

this trend continues, then

34:35

you've got a problem for the entire

34:38

Chesapeake Bay. Let's

34:41

be honest, when life science products

34:43

began production in 1974, the James River was

34:47

already polluted. By then the

34:49

river had served as a chemical toilet

34:51

for the local factories for years. But

34:53

that pollution was exacerbated because Allied

34:56

Chemical, one of its producing keypones

34:58

under its own roof, dumped its poison

35:00

waste directly into the James River.

35:03

They knew it was wrong. There were internal

35:05

memos at Allied, some authored by

35:07

Virgil and Coffey, who would later

35:09

co-found life science products, discussing

35:12

how Corps of Engineers regulations required

35:14

them to report any discharge of a toxic

35:16

substance. They realized that discharging

35:19

thousands of gallons of bad batches of keypone

35:21

at once would never be improved. The

35:24

Corps would probably require an expensive pre-treatment

35:27

process, which wouldn't look good on

35:29

a balance sheet. Well, the

35:31

thing to do is do nothing, one

35:33

of the Allied bosses wrote. So,

35:36

Allied kept dumping quietly into

35:39

the James River.

35:41

When life science products took over keypone production,

35:44

the waste was dumped directly into

35:46

the sewer. It's called progress. The

35:48

only problem was that the company's discharges

35:51

far exceeded the agreed upon levels with the

35:53

city of Hopewell, both in volume and

35:55

toxicity. According to the Richmond

35:58

Times Dispatch, the life science products

36:00

discharges were equivalent to a chemical

36:03

version of the atomic bomb for

36:05

commercial keypones diluted to one eighth

36:07

of one percent strength while

36:09

the keypones discharged from the plant was 88

36:12

to 94 percent pure. So pure that in February 1974 just a month

36:14

into production

36:15

life

36:21

science products accidentally shut down the

36:23

Hopewell sewage treatment plant.

36:25

Keypones, a very effective

36:27

pesticide, killed all the natural

36:30

bacteria, used to break down any solid

36:32

waste in the water. The digester

36:34

systems at the treatment facility became

36:36

overwhelmed and failed. The system was

36:39

inoperable. The city officials

36:41

traced the problem back to life science. The

36:43

company essentially crossed its arms and threatened

36:46

to shut down the facility and eliminate all

36:48

the jobs it had brought to the town rather

36:50

than work on a solution. The

36:52

city of Hopewell took no action nor

36:55

were the state or the EPA alerted

36:57

to the matter. But what about the government

37:00

agencies who should have stopped the keypone spread

37:02

before it started? With the exception

37:04

of Virginia state epidemiologist Robert

37:06

Jackson, who probably exceeded his authority

37:09

by shutting down life science

37:10

within hours of getting a report that workers

37:12

were being poisoned, none of the city,

37:15

county, state, or federal agencies

37:17

charged with protecting the public took

37:19

corrective action during the 16 months

37:21

life science was making keypones.

37:24

So the dumping continued and some say

37:26

life science products became even more emboldened.

37:29

There

37:29

are reports that company pickups were

37:31

spotted draining entire tanks of a smoking

37:34

substance into unlined holes

37:36

in the ground in broad daylight.

37:39

Just absolutely disrespecting Mother

37:41

Earth. At the moment we estimate

37:43

there's a hundred thousand pounds of keypone in the

37:46

James River sediments. On the

37:48

bottom of the James River. On the bottom of the James River. In

37:50

December 1975, the James

37:53

River was shut down for 100 miles from

37:55

Richmond to the Chesapeake Bay. They

37:58

had no choice, according to Virginia

37:59

State.

37:59

Governor Mills E. Godwin to

38:02

close this great and historic river was

38:04

indeed a drastic step, but I

38:06

felt the public interest required action

38:08

forthwith and I could do nothing else.

38:11

Soon after, the chemical capital

38:14

of the South signs were taken down and

38:16

thrown in the dump where they joined

38:18

whatever was left of the local fishing industry.

38:21

The closure of the James River decimated people's

38:23

livelihoods, seafood, hospitality,

38:26

tourism, right down the drain like

38:28

a bad batch of keypones. August

38:31

and September I dropped from three,

38:33

four trips to six trips. I

38:36

dropped from 28 trips to

38:39

four trips from this moment. Everybody

38:42

is scared to death and the name of it is keypones.

38:45

The environmental disaster gave rise

38:48

to more civil lawsuits against

38:50

allied chemical life science products

38:52

at all. The fishing industry's

38:55

railroad workers who handled keypone, the

38:57

state of Virginia and others sought

38:59

damages of their own. Combined with the lawsuits

39:02

from former workers and families, the claimant

39:04

sought more than $200 million and criminal charges lingered.

39:11

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I think we should

40:34

not fool ourselves into thinking

40:36

that legislative

40:38

changes or procedural

40:41

changes can

40:45

really provide any ultimate protection

40:49

against willful

40:51

acts by the very people who have the

40:53

most knowledge of the

40:57

probable effects of

40:59

those acts.

41:02

Any

41:04

more than laws against

41:06

murder can keep people from

41:09

committing murder.

41:11

In January 1976, the United

41:14

States Congress held Senate subcommittee

41:16

investigations and public hearings into

41:18

the keypone contamination of Hopewell, Virginia,

41:21

which had featured a collection of failures shared

41:23

by governments, industry, regulatory

41:26

agencies, and the medical community. The

41:29

subcommittee hearings aimed to determine the roles

41:31

and awareness of those involved. Management

41:34

admitted that

41:37

the reason that everybody was shaking was because

41:39

of keypone. However, it

41:41

was supposed to be

41:44

something about the keypone would cause

41:47

you

41:48

to shake, but it wasn't anything

41:50

to worry about. Former employees of

41:53

Life Science Products testified and

41:55

recounted their experiences and reiterated

41:58

that upper management never warned them

42:00

that Kipun was dangerous to humans.

42:03

Co-founders William Moore and Virgil Hentofte

42:05

also testified and again downplayed

42:07

their knowledge claiming not to have known

42:10

the extent of the danger or the severity

42:12

of their employees illnesses. Actually

42:30

this was not brought to my attention. You knew that you had

42:32

a very

42:40

toxic

42:47

material you were dealing with.

42:49

Is that a fair statement? No I

42:52

don't know that that I knew we had a toxic

42:54

material. When did you

42:56

first become aware of the total

43:00

toxic toxic nature of Kipun?

43:03

Well I don't know if I'm totally aware now.

43:05

It seems to be more toxic than I was

43:08

aware of. We know it's not a very benign

43:11

substance. I mean we know that. Well that's right and

43:13

this may be one of the one of the

43:15

real problems.

43:18

When a person is working

43:20

with let's say cyanide

43:22

one tends to know

43:25

that if he gets an owner he

43:27

is

43:29

dead. Apparently

43:33

Kipun is not this type

43:37

of poison. Well Kipun

43:39

is a poison however. Yes it

43:41

is. I

43:43

am vitally concerned and

43:46

there's not one human suffering that doesn't

43:48

concern me very very vitally.

43:52

William Moore the president of life

43:54

science said he usually worked in the lab 25 miles

43:57

away from the Kipun plant. He

43:59

rarely interacted with the substance or

44:01

the workers who handled it. He claimed there was

44:04

no way for him to know the severity of the situation.

44:07

Virgil Hentofte, on the other hand, said

44:09

he was working near the Kepone every day with

44:11

a pregnant wife at home. He had symptoms

44:14

of his own. Proof, he says, that

44:16

he wasn't aware of the danger.

44:18

Even if the chemical producers were oblivious,

44:21

as they claimed, there were more than enough

44:23

warning signs to prevent widespread contamination.

44:27

Orban Dubose was the first to complain. He

44:29

got fired for refusing to work where there was

44:31

Kepone dust floating around in the air. But

44:33

he still got sick. Well, I

44:36

had got to the point where I was nervous

44:39

and I snapped at my wife

44:41

and family and that just

44:43

something wasn't right and working in that dust

44:46

where it would have to do without any kind of protection,

44:48

it just wasn't right to work at

44:51

the point where I couldn't pick a cup of coffee

44:53

up and hold my hand. I had a hole in both hands.

44:57

At the life science plant in 1974,

45:01

a year before Dale Gilbert went to the doctor,

45:03

worker Orban Dubose refused to

45:06

unclog a rotor. He was tired

45:08

of getting Kepone all over him. So

45:10

he was fired for insubordination. In

45:13

return, Orban filed a complaint with OSHA

45:15

detailing the hazardous work environment

45:18

and his related health issues. OSHA

45:21

dismissed Orban Dubose's complaint without

45:23

investigation after life science

45:25

told him he was nothing more than a disgruntled

45:27

worker and they never followed up. In

45:30

another instance of regulatory failure, there

45:33

was an air pollution monitoring station located 200

45:35

yards away from the Kepone plant collecting

45:38

data that would have shown there had been

45:40

a dust problem since day one.

45:42

The only problem was that no one ever looked

45:44

at it, despite everyone in the area

45:47

having to sweep Kepone dust off of their

45:49

windshields every time they drove home. It

45:52

may strike you as incredible because it is, but

45:55

this air pollution control monitoring device

45:57

is located only a block away from

45:59

the plant.

45:59

right down there. But nobody

46:02

caught the fact that T-Faun was literally being

46:04

poured into the air. All officials did was

46:06

measure the dust around. Nobody analyzed

46:08

it. Nobody knew or cared about T-Faun.

46:11

When they finally got around to analyzing some

46:13

old samples a few weeks ago, it

46:15

turned out that half the dust was

46:18

T-Faun.

46:19

By the spring of 1976, the former

46:22

Life Science Products building had been demolished.

46:25

Cleanup was well underway. Much

46:27

of it was spearheaded by Allied chemical

46:30

who spent almost $400,000 gutting

46:33

the problematic plant. The

46:35

company also funded studies that the Medical

46:37

College of Virginia helped find a cure for

46:39

the poisoned workers. Not because a

46:42

grand jury was about to convene to determine

46:44

if Allied chemical was legally responsible

46:46

for the disaster and the optics were good,

46:48

no. It

46:49

was about the goodness of their corporate

46:51

hearts.

46:52

However, the company did want to make it clear

46:54

that their good deeds were not a sign of guilt. According

46:57

to G.C. Matheson, president of Allied's

47:00

Agricultural Division, we

47:02

do not wish our cooperation to be

47:04

misinterpreted as a concession that we

47:06

are to blame or that we are legally

47:08

responsible for the activities of persons

47:11

not under our control. A

47:13

grand jury convened in May 1976 and

47:16

in a series of indictments, the Allied

47:19

Chemical Corporation was charged with

47:21

a thousand plus criminal charges for

47:23

violations of the Clean Water Act and

47:25

the Refuse Act for discharging

47:28

its poison into the river and

47:30

conspiracy counts for violating federal pollution

47:33

laws. Allied Chemical was faced

47:35

with a possible fine of $17 million.

47:38

Five Allied employees were charged

47:40

with one count of conspiracy for interfering

47:43

with pollution control programs.

47:45

In addition to fines, those individual

47:47

defendants faced a year in jail. Life

47:50

Science Products and its owners, William Moore

47:53

and Virgil Hentofte, were indicted

47:55

on 153 charges of violating the Water

47:58

Pollution Control Act, as well as the US Department of Defense. a

48:00

conspiracy count to violate federal

48:02

pollution regulations. Both individuals

48:05

and the company were facing fines of 3.8 million

48:08

dollars each. The city of Hopewell

48:11

was also named in 153 counts for

48:13

allowing the discharge of keep-home waste

48:15

in the sewer system and three additional

48:18

counts for failing to report it. The city

48:20

faced a fine of 3.9 million dollars.

48:24

Hours after the indictment, Allied Chemical

48:26

released a statement criticizing the decision.

48:29

The scope of the criminal actions was unwarranted

48:31

and unprecedented. The extreme

48:33

reaction shown by the indictments appears

48:36

to reflect our official frustration over

48:38

the failure of regulatory agencies to

48:40

do their proper job. Allied

48:42

denies the allegations that have been reported

48:45

and intends to defend vigorously the

48:47

interests of the company, its employees, and

48:49

stockholders. The company's general

48:51

record on environmental and safety policies

48:54

has been excellent. The

48:57

city of Hopewell did not defend

48:59

vigorously. On June 25th, 1976, it

49:01

pleaded no contest to 10 of the 156 charges against

49:03

it. Hopewell,

49:08

a city, was fined 10,000

49:10

dollars and put on five years probation.

49:13

All the remaining charges were dismissed. U.S.

49:16

District Judge Robert R. Murchidge

49:18

later said he regretted fining the city

49:20

of Hopewell such a small amount because

49:22

later litigation revealed just how truly

49:25

negligent it had acted.

49:27

On August 10th, 1976, Life Science

49:31

Products co-founder Virgil Hentopte pleaded

49:33

no contest to 79 of

49:36

the 153 counts against him. He agreed to

49:38

testify against Allied and received

49:41

a 25,000 dollar fine and five years probation.

49:44

The other co-founder, William Moore, eventually

49:46

pleaded no contest for himself and

49:49

Life Science Products. He was fined 25,000 dollars

49:53

and sentenced to five years probation. Life

49:55

Sciences was fined the entire 3.8 million

49:58

dollars, which was a entirely symbolic

50:01

because the company was utterly insolvent.

50:05

The individual Allied employees charged

50:07

with conspiracy were all dismissed or

50:09

acquitted. The judge did not want to pin the

50:11

blame on what happened to what he called lower

50:13

level employees.

50:15

Because of this ruling, not a single

50:17

person in a keep on scandal would

50:19

serve jail time.

50:21

Another surprising move, Allied Chemical

50:24

gave up on its vigorous defense later

50:26

that month and pleaded no contest to

50:28

the 940 pollution charges. The

50:31

company was losing the public relations battle

50:33

and wanted to end the chatter quickly. As

50:36

a bonus, the plea could not be used as an

50:38

admission of fault and its pending civil

50:40

litigation. The 150 conspiracy

50:43

charges were eventually dismissed. As

50:47

punishment for the pollution charges, Judge

50:49

Murchidge enforced the maximum, a

50:51

fine of $13,215,000. It was the largest fine ever imposed in a federal pollution

50:54

case. I

51:00

hope that after this sentencing, every corporate

51:02

officer will think, if I don't do anything

51:05

about pollution, I will be out of the job,

51:07

Judge Murchidge said. He believed Allied

51:10

was acutely aware that it was polluting the

51:12

river. Quote, pollution is

51:14

a crime against every citizen. The

51:16

environment belongs to every single person,

51:19

every single citizen, from the lowest

51:21

to the highest.

51:22

I think it was done because of what it considered to

51:24

be business necessities and

51:26

money took the forefront. The

51:28

federal judge today imposed a

51:30

maximum fine of $13 million

51:33

on Allied Chemical for polluting

51:35

the James River in Virginia with the insecticide

51:38

capone. Allied used to

51:40

make capone in Hopewell,

51:43

Virginia. Later it got its capone

51:45

supply from Life Science Products Company

51:47

of Hopewell. However, Judge

51:50

Murchidge hesitated to hand over the entire $13

51:52

million fine to the U.S.

51:54

Treasury. The judge announced he

51:56

would, quote, be interested in any

51:59

legal method to keep that money in Virginia

52:01

to help the people directly injured by Kepan.

52:04

Allied Chemical had an idea. How

52:07

about they use $8 million of

52:09

the fine to establish an environmental

52:12

endowment fund which would be spent

52:14

on projects to enhance the environment and

52:16

the common wealth of Virginia.

52:18

That way the federal government wouldn't receive

52:20

all the money

52:21

and it would count as a charitable

52:23

contribution for the company, a tax-deductible

52:27

disaster. Judge

52:29

Murchage loved this idea and

52:31

called it, quote, a very generous

52:34

gesture by the Allied Chemical Corporation

52:36

who he referred to as, quote, good

52:38

guys in my book. Judge

52:41

Murchage also reduced Allied's remaining $5

52:44

million fine to $1.4

52:46

million. The day after the endowment

52:48

was created, Allied issued a

52:50

statement of regret for its part in

52:52

the Kepan contamination. Soon

52:55

after the bulk of the civil litigation was settled

52:57

out of court for undisclosed sums. Reportedly,

53:00

these settlements totaled about $3 million,

53:03

mostly covered by the company's insurance.

53:06

The former workers, families, fishermen, and

53:08

others initially sought nearly $200 million. In

53:11

total, the Kepan disaster cost Allied

53:14

Chemical about $30 million.

53:17

The following year, 1977, the

53:19

company recorded $3 billion in

53:22

sales. To

53:24

their credit, the Virginia Environmental Endowment

53:26

was a good idea. The monies had been

53:29

used to fund studies on the health effects of Kepan

53:31

exposure, fell off the seafood

53:33

industry and helped build a new sewage treatment

53:35

plant for the city of Hopewell, which opened

53:38

in August 1977. The following

53:41

year, the new sewage plant malfunctioned, resulting

53:44

in discharge that was actually dirtier

53:46

than before it had entered treatment. The

53:48

plant was adding excessive amounts of chemicals

53:50

of its own to the water. They were fined $1,600.

53:55

Fortunately, none of those added chemicals

53:57

was Kepan. The

54:00

protection agency has ordered a ban on a dozen

54:02

pesticides containing keypone, the chemical

54:04

suspected of poisoning production workers. The

54:07

pesticides are made by Allied Chemical Company. We

54:09

could read you the ban, although we'd argue with the

54:11

findings that keypone causes liver cancers.

54:14

The remaining reserves of keypone were eventually

54:17

shipped and buried in a former salt

54:19

mine in West Germany. The state of

54:21

Idaho and the country of Wales rejected

54:23

the disposal offers. South

54:26

Wales was not prepared to become a receptacle for

54:28

the excreta of an incontinent sector

54:30

of American capitalism, a Wales

54:32

member of parliament told Fortune magazine.

54:36

Speaking of excrement. We

54:38

found that in humans, cholecystiomy increases

54:41

the rate of disappearance of keypone

54:43

from the blood and from the fat. It draws

54:46

it out of the body. It draws it out of the body and eliminates

54:48

it from the tissues.

54:50

In February 1978, Dr.

54:52

Philip Gazellian at the Medical College

54:55

of Virginia discovered that the cholesterol

54:57

drug cholecystiramine sped up the elimination

55:00

of keypone from the body by 50% by

55:02

preventing reabsorption and allowing

55:04

it to exit through the bowels. This

55:06

discovery virtually eliminated the

55:09

short-term effects of keypone poisoning. However,

55:12

at the time, the long-term effects remained

55:14

completely unknown. For most former

55:17

life science products workers, the symptoms

55:19

have dissipated. Others still exhibited

55:21

signs 10 years later. They

55:24

all worry about cancer. To

55:27

decrease everyone else's chances in

55:29

the wake of the keypone scandal, the state

55:32

passed the Virginia Toxic Substances

55:34

Information Act and the federal government

55:36

passed the Toxic Substances Control

55:38

Act, which has been widely criticized

55:41

for falling short. The James

55:43

River slowly recovered. The fishing

55:45

ban remained in effect for 13 years

55:47

until everyone just kind of got tired

55:49

of it. According to the Newport News Daily,

55:52

even a member of the agency enforcing the ban

55:55

was caught fishing illegally. By

55:57

all accounts, the James River is cleaner.

56:00

than before the keypone pollution. Keypone

56:02

levels in fish have dropped significantly. However,

56:05

an advisory about eating fish from the James

56:08

River remains on the Virginia Department of

56:10

Health's website because the keypone

56:12

remains in the James River. According

56:15

to a report by the Environmental Protection

56:17

Agency, the James River in Virginia

56:20

has so much keypone chemical poison

56:22

it would cost seven billion dollars to clean

56:24

it up. Before the industrial dumping

56:27

of keypone, the James used to support a large

56:29

fishing

56:29

industry.

56:31

The plan to remove the keypone from the James

56:33

River was abandoned because the EPA

56:36

warned it, quote, may not be technically

56:38

feasible or financially possible. There

56:41

was no guarantee it would work and could possibly

56:44

result in more problems by dredging it up. Other

56:46

ideas included diverting the entire James River

56:49

around the problem area. Another

56:51

included deploying hordes of a keypone eating

56:53

bug until it was discovered that

56:55

that bug

56:56

could not swim.

56:58

So instead, it was decided that the

57:01

safest option would be to let the keypone

57:03

settle.

57:04

It's still there, 20 to 40

57:06

thousand pounds of it,

57:08

buried a few feet under the sediment

57:10

like a sleeping monster waiting

57:12

to be beckoned by rising sea

57:14

levels, a tropical storm, or

57:16

the slightest little shudder from

57:19

Mother Earth.

57:34

Swindled is written, researched, produced,

57:36

and hosted by me, a concerned citizen,

57:38

with original music by Trevor Howard, aka

57:40

The Former, aka the chemical

57:43

capital of the West. For

57:45

more information about Swindled, you can visit swindledpodcast.com

57:48

and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and

57:50

TikTok at Swindled Podcast.

57:53

Or you can send us a postcard at P.O. Box 6044 Austin,

57:55

Texas 78762. No

58:00

packages. We do not trust you. Swindled

58:03

is a completely independent production, which

58:05

means no network, no investors, no bosses,

58:08

no shadowy money men, no pesticides,

58:11

and we plan to keep it that way, but we need your support.

58:13

Become a valued listener on Patreon, Apple Podcast,

58:16

or Spotify at ValuedListener.com.

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58:30

Become a valued listener at ValuedListener.com.

58:33

If you want to support the show and need something to wear on

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your trip to the James River, consider

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buying something you don't need at SwindledPodcast.com

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slash shop. There are t-shirts, patches,

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slash shop. And remember to use

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in return for your support, you can always

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simply donate using the form on the homepage.

58:57

That's it. Thanks for listening.

59:02

My name is Hillary from

59:05

Denver, Colorado. My name is Karen

59:07

from New Orleans. My name is Shannon

59:10

from Newark, Delaware. And

59:12

I am a concerned citizen, AKA,

59:15

and a valued listener. And

59:21

this is the third year I've tried. So

59:23

let's see if

59:24

I make it on the recording

59:27

this year.

59:28

Great job you're doing. Thanks. Bye.

59:36

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Buckeye Imagination Museum is the destination

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