ABOVE THE WATER LINE

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America’s chemical industry worked tirelessly to refashion itself for this new era and maintain its revenues.

DuPont, Dow, 3M, Formosa and others manufactured new products to support “modern lifestyles,” using petrochemicals, plastics, woodpreservatives, pesticides and more. These products were developed, quickly tested, and then marketed to farmers and the general public.

Glitzy media pieces urged consumers to “gladden hearts and lighten labor” through the “wonderful world of chemistry.”

My memories of these so-called miracle products are many. I remember the airplanes flying low over the beach on Florida’s Sanibel Island in the late 1950s and 1960s, spraying DDT to kill mosquitoes; my parents would shout that the planes were coming and my sister and I would run outside to watch them drop their cargo, no doubt breathing the white mist. At home in Atlanta, men walked through the stream behind our house – where I loved to play – spraying the water with mosquito-killing chemicals. At the 1964 World’s Fair, DuPont’s popular pavilion was filled with magical new products for the home and a flashy musical revue that extolled the virtues of man-made chemicals. It was all so exciting!

In the early 1960s, DuPont introduced its “happy pan” to make life easier with Teflon, a new name for the chemical coating that used perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and its long chains of carbon during the manufacturing process. Like most homemakers, my mother was thrilled at the prospect of not having to scrub pans. As our pans aged, I remember seeing strings of the Tefloncoating peel off the cookware. Was our food being seasoned with Teflon? Was it a safe product? Early studies didn’t reveal any associated health issues and, besides, we believed that the government would protect us from harmful products.

The chemical industry boomed, as sales reached into the millions and then billions of dollars; thousands more chemicals were developed and marketed in the following decades. Passed by Congress in 1976, the Toxic Substances Control Act required the U.S. EPA to inventory all chemicals produced in this country; it yielded a list of more than 60,000 synthetic substances – all of which, including PFOA, were exempt from the new regulations.

That the science of chemistry has changed and, in many ways, vastly improved our lives is not in dispute. Yet, in the past four decades, we’ve learned a great deal more about the impacts of some of these chemicals on public health and the environment –how they move through the environment (and us) and the risks they pose. Thanks to inquisitive victims, investigative journalists, environmental organizations and public interest attorneys, we have also learned how some companies repeatedly failed to disclose the hazardous nature of products and kept government agencies in their pockets.

The true story of DuPont, PFOA and the cancers and deformities in Parkersburg, West Virginia is told in the new movie “Dark Waters.” It is a deeply troubling – in truth, nauseating – tale of how the company hid evidence that the synthetic chemical was a toxin that could slowly build up in humans and cause kidney and testicular cancer, thyroid disease, high cholesterol, pre-eclampsia and ulcerative colitis. The movie traces the efforts of a relentless attorney, over two decades, to obtain justice for people harmed by the chemicals and demand that the federal government take action on PFAS: a group of about 4,700 synthetic substances, now known as “forever chemicals.”

Used in Teflon, ScotchGuard, firefighting foam and other products, PFOA has been poisoning land, contaminating drinking water and harming people since the mid-20th century. Based on its own secret medical studies, DuPont knew since the 1970s that their factory workers were being contaminated, ingestion caused birth defects, dust from factory chimneys settled beyond property lines, and the chemical was in local water supplies. The company considered a less toxic alternative in the 1990s, but determined the financial risk to be too great; PFOA-products were an important part of the company’s $1 billion in annual profit.

In 2013, EPA finally demanded, after years of pressure, that DuPont stop making and using PFOA, so the company switched to the “less-toxic” alternative developed ten years earlier, also not evaluated or regulated. EPA then issued a “health advisory” level for PFOA, i.e., a guideline that is not enforceable and cannot be used to demand cleanups. Under the Trump Administration, EPA has become even more timid about taking any action. With the federal government’s total failure to manage this toxic chemical, some states are moving toward regulation, notably Minnesota, Michigan, New York, New Jersey and Vermont.

Meanwhile, safety concerns, protests and legal actions are escalating. In Georgia, the city of Rome recently filed a lawsuit against thirty carpetmanufacturing companies that used PFOA and are located upstream of its drinking water supply, where high levels of the “forever chemical” have been found.

How do we ensure that our living is really “better” with chemicals? Make sure that your candidates will fight for a strong, funded EPA. Support the use of public funds for much-needed science and health studies and adequate monitoring of our water supplies. Demand transparency and accountability, so all risk assessment studies and other pertinent documents are made available to the public. Elections matter.

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By Dyana Bagby

A ribbon cutting was held Dec. 12 to officially open the “model mile” of the Peachtree Creek Greenway, the first stretch of a linear park and multiuse path that is envisioned to stretch 12 miles and connect Atlanta, Brookhaven, Chamblee, unincorporated DeKalb County and Doraville.

Brookhaven Mayor John Ernst told the crowd of more than 100 people who attended the ceremony that the plan is for someone to be able to get on a bike in Brookhaven, ride on the Greenway to the Atlanta BeltLine, then to the Silver Comet Trail and then to Alabama.

“This used to be called the miracle mile because people thought it would take a miracle to get this thing done,” Ernst said of the first leg that opened between North Druid Hills Road and Briarwood Road.

The ribbon-cutting fell on the one-year anniversary of the groundbreaking ceremony. There are more anniversaries to be had, Ernst said.

“This is just a point in time, just one … and I know in a few years well be digging in the dirt again and connecting that path, so let’s get to it,” he said.

Numerous people and organizations are responsible for the completing the first mile, including the Salvation Army, whose regional headquarters is adjacent to the Greenway The nonprofit donated land that is used for a trailhead off North Druid Hills Road.

Special recognition was also given to the nonprofit Peachtree Creek Greenway organization that has advocated for its construction including Betsy Eggers, chair of the organization, and board members Sarah K. Kennedy and Meredith O’Connor.

“We’re just ecstatic,” Eggers said after the ceremony as she prepared to ride her bike. “To think this creek was just a nasty, dumped-on, trash location. But now it’s not just usable, it is joyful.”

Eco Briefs

During the recent Greenbuild International Conference and Expo, the U.S. Green Building Council announced that more than 100 cities and communities have now achieved LEED certification. The City of Atlanta, this year’s Greenbuild host city, marked the 100th certification. USGBC launched LEED for Cities and Communities in 2016 as a globally consistent framework for measuring and tracking sustainability at the city and community scale. The rating system tracks progress across key performance indicators, including energy, waste, water, transportation, resilience, health and equity.

The Georgia Conservancy honored former U.S. President Jimmy Carter as its 2019 Distinguished Conservationist during its recent gala at the Atlanta History Center. As one of the Georgia Conservancy’s charter members in 1967, Carter’s environmental legacy in Georgia and beyond includes preserving the Upper Flint River at Sprewell Bluff, establishment of the Georgia Heritage Trust, support of significant environmental policy changes and an unwavering commitment to natural resources. “Future generations of conservation leaders must remember that we are stewards of a precious gift, which is not an unpleasant duty but rather an exciting challenge,” said President Carter. “We must safeguard our land so that our children and grandchildren can enjoy freshwater, clean air, scenic mountains and coasts, fertile agricultural lands, and healthy save places to live and thrive.”

Southface Institute and Atlanta Housing have closed on the first transaction of approximately 0.7 acres, which includes the existing Southface campus, located at 241 Pine Street NE. Southface has been on this site, under a long-term land lease, since 1995 when it moved from Moreland Avenue to construct a demonstration facility that highlights residential sustainability in partnership with the City of Atlanta prior to the 1996 Olympic Games. This transaction is the initial purchase of land within the up to 1.8 acres of the current Civic Center site that the Atlanta Housing Board of Directors approved last November. By remaining in its current space, Southface can continue its work promoting sustainable homes, workplaces and communities, while preparing for transformative growth in the future.

Visitors to the Trees Atlanta Kendeda Center may notice some new, tiny dots adorning the glass on the building. These dots are special window treatments designed to prevent birds from flying into the windows. The project is thanks to a partnership between Trees Atlanta and Atlanta Audubon, with a grant from the Disney Conservation Fund. The dots are a special CollidEscape film that reduces the transparency of the glass and breaks up reflection, preventing bird-window strikes.

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