Speaker 1: Lights camera p fasts. Today on Parts Pavilion, we take
Speaker 1: a look at a new Hollywood movie about toxic chemicals,
Speaker 1: and we hear from the attorney who now finds his
Speaker 1: life story up on the silver screen. Hello, and welcome
Speaker 1: back once again to Parts Pervilion, the podcast from Bloomberg Environment.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, David Schultzen. Sorry about my voice this week.
Speaker 1: I'm a little under the weather. So if you've listened
Speaker 1: to Parts Rebellion before, you know this is a pretty
Speaker 1: nerdy podcast. Most of our episodes deal with things like
Speaker 1: litigation or environmental remediation or international climate policy, but not today.
Speaker 1: On this episode, we're heading to Hollywood to talk about
Speaker 1: the new based on a true story movie, Dark Waters,
Speaker 1: which arrives in theaters this week. It stars Mark Ruffalo
Speaker 1: as a corporate defense attorney who learns about problems with
Speaker 1: a chemical called PFOA or PFOA and then decides to
Speaker 1: switch side, so to speak, and take on the chemical makers.
Speaker 1: That attorney's name is Rob Blot, and all of that
Speaker 1: stuff actually happened to him in real life. The film
Speaker 1: is based on Bilot's book recounting his transformation into a
Speaker 1: plaintiff's attorney, and his journey towards realizing that pifoa could
Speaker 1: be a major public health threat. Bilot spoke to us
Speaker 1: a few weeks ago from Cincinnati, where his firm Taff,
Speaker 1: Statinius and Hollister is based. He's been working on this
Speaker 1: issue since the late nineties, ever since mysterious health problems
Speaker 1: started arising in Parkersburg, a small town in West Virginia
Speaker 1: that happens to be located right next to a factory
Speaker 1: that made PFOA. Also, I should say, PIFOA is an
Speaker 1: acronym that stands for perfluorooctanoic acid. It's one in a
Speaker 1: large class of nonstate chemicals that are used in a
Speaker 1: number of products, but are also non biodegradable and potentially toxic.
Speaker 1: Bilot has been fighting according against the makers of these
Speaker 1: chemicals for years, but among the general public this issue
Speaker 1: has been pretty obscure. That's why Bilot was eager to
Speaker 1: participate when Hollywood came calling, and that was one of
Speaker 1: the main reasons I agreed to do this. I wanted
Speaker 1: to get that information out to the public. It was,
Speaker 1: you know, very frustrating to have worked on this all
Speaker 1: these years and sending letter after letter to the federal
Speaker 1: EPA to state agencies trying to raise awareness and trying
Speaker 1: to sound the alarm on this public health threat. And
Speaker 1: I'm hoping that if you know, putting it in a
Speaker 1: movie form like this, putting the story out there in
Speaker 1: a way that's accessible to folks, will help elevate awareness
Speaker 1: of it. Of course, this is a story that involves
Speaker 1: really complex issues, not just of law, but also of science,
Speaker 1: and at the risk of unfairly maligning the motion picture industry,
Speaker 1: Hollywood doesn't necessarily have a great track record of sticking
Speaker 1: to the facts when fictionalizing stories like these. But but
Speaker 1: Lot says he was convinced by the unimpeachable credentials of
Speaker 1: the team that would be bringing his story to the screen.
Speaker 1: In addition to the Oscar nominated Ruffalo, who portrays Bilot himself,
Speaker 1: Dark Waters directed by the Oscar nominated Todd Haynes, It
Speaker 1: was also produced by Participant Media, the film studio that
Speaker 1: brought you politically minded ferris such as an Incymy in Truth,
Speaker 1: Spotlight and The Green Book. The folks at the studio
Speaker 1: and Mark Ruffalo, I mean, they were very concerned about
Speaker 1: making sure it was done the right way and that
Speaker 1: the accurate, correct story was put together, and I think
Speaker 1: they did a tremendous job doing that, and it sounds
Speaker 1: like the admiration runs both ways. Ruffalo himself testified before
Speaker 1: the House Overset Committee this week about the problems with
Speaker 1: these chemicals and he praised on Rob for his courage
Speaker 1: and for his willingness to bite the hand that feeds.
Speaker 1: Rob has risked everything, including his career and his own health,
Speaker 1: to uncover one of the greatest corporate environmental crimes in history,
Speaker 1: so he should be seen as a true American hero.
Speaker 1: I myself haven't seen Dark Waters yet, so I'm not
Speaker 1: in a position to give it a thumbs up or
Speaker 1: thumbs down, But I will say that a lot of
Speaker 1: people who work in environmental issue are watching very closely
Speaker 1: to see if the movie turns PFOA into a household acronym.
Speaker 1: But a lot it says it's time for the broader
Speaker 1: public to catch up with what communities like Parkersburg have
Speaker 1: been dealing with for so long. We have been working
Speaker 1: through the court system for twenty years. You know, this
Speaker 1: whole issue originally started through court cases. And I think
Speaker 1: all of that, all of these different efforts, you know,
Speaker 1: on different fronts have really raised awareness within all these
Speaker 1: different communities across the country. And it's the community members
Speaker 1: now with that information that are demanding action at the
Speaker 1: you know, at the legislative level, or that their local
Speaker 1: or state or even federal representatives take steps to do something.
Speaker 1: And indeed, there are numerous bills in Congress right now
Speaker 1: that would change the way we regulate PFOA and other
Speaker 1: chemicals in this class, but none of them are moving
Speaker 1: very quickly through the famously convoluted Capitol Hill legislative machine. Well,
Speaker 1: dark waters create a ground swell of outrage and that
Speaker 1: changes that too soon to say, but a lot can
Speaker 1: say one thing. Watching an OSCAR nominated actor reenact scenes
Speaker 1: from your own life is very very strange. Well, you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's surreal. It's definitely surreal, particularly to have
Speaker 1: somebody you know of of Mark Ruffalo's stature playing you
Speaker 1: in a movie. But you know, I couldn't have asked
Speaker 1: for anybody better. You know, he's got not only a
Speaker 1: you know, great acting talent and you know, a wonderful person,
Speaker 1: but he's also just got incredible passion and dedication to
Speaker 1: the story into this this whole issue of drinking water contamination.
Speaker 1: So I really couldn't have asked for anybody better. That
Speaker 1: was Rob a Lot, an attorney based out of Cincinnati,
Speaker 1: talking about Dark Waters, the new movie based on his life.
Speaker 1: If you want to learn more about how this movie
Speaker 1: could affect the ongoing debate over these chemicals, visit our
Speaker 1: website news dot Bloomberg, environment dot com. That website once
Speaker 1: again is news dot Bloomberg environment dot com, and if
Speaker 1: you want to chat with us on social media, use
Speaker 1: the hashtag parts per B. That hashtag, once again is
Speaker 1: parts per B. Today's episode of Parts per Billion was
Speaker 1: produced by myself along with Marissa Horn and Jessica Coombs.
Speaker 1: The music for this episode is a message by Jazar,
Speaker 1: who was used under Creative Commons license. Thanks for listening.
Speaker 1: Hi there, I'm Amanda Icone, co host of Talking Tax.
Speaker 1: Each week we dig into the biggest tax and financial
Speaker 1: accounting challenges and opportunities for policy to on the ground realities.
Speaker 1: We bring you corporate leaders, accountants and industry insiders. You
Speaker 1: can find us wherever you get your podcasts. For more,
Speaker 1: check us out on news dot Bloomberg, Tax dot com.