1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:02,000 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:11,000 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:11,039 --> 00:00:13,880 Speaker 1: a show that roots through the garbage of history to 4 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:19,079 Speaker 1: find old stories worth salvaging. I'm Gabe Louzier, and today 5 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:21,920 Speaker 1: we're talking about the time when a ship full of 6 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:25,000 Speaker 1: trash took a month's long cruise through the Gulf of 7 00:00:25,079 --> 00:00:29,360 Speaker 1: Mexico and convinced the world that recycling might not be 8 00:00:29,560 --> 00:00:43,040 Speaker 1: such a bad idea. The day was March seven. A 9 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:47,800 Speaker 1: barge carrying nearly seven million pounds of trash set sail 10 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:50,800 Speaker 1: from I Slip, New York, and spent the next five 11 00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:55,480 Speaker 1: months looking for somewhere to dump it. The barge, known 12 00:00:55,520 --> 00:00:59,240 Speaker 1: as Mobrow four thousand, was towed by a tug boat 13 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:03,560 Speaker 1: called Break of Dawn. The boat was captained by Duffy 14 00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:07,839 Speaker 1: Saint Pierre, and was bound for Morehead City, North Carolina, 15 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:11,479 Speaker 1: where it's cargo, more than three thousand tons of New 16 00:01:11,560 --> 00:01:15,120 Speaker 1: York garbage, would be used in a trial program to 17 00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:20,000 Speaker 1: turn trash into energy. However, by the time the barge 18 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:24,240 Speaker 1: arrived at its destination, North Carolina had backed out of 19 00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:28,360 Speaker 1: the deal, leaving the fully loaded barge adrift with nowhere 20 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:32,759 Speaker 1: else to go. Over the next several months, the barge 21 00:01:32,840 --> 00:01:37,119 Speaker 1: was towed to five other states and three foreign countries, 22 00:01:37,560 --> 00:01:42,640 Speaker 1: but was turned away every time. The mastermind behind this 23 00:01:42,760 --> 00:01:47,600 Speaker 1: doomed endeavor was an entrepreneur named Lowell Harrelson. He was 24 00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:50,240 Speaker 1: in the construction business at the time, but with the 25 00:01:50,320 --> 00:01:54,560 Speaker 1: energy crisis of the nineteen seventies still fresh on everyone's mind, 26 00:01:54,800 --> 00:01:58,760 Speaker 1: he was looking for a way to expand into alternative energy. 27 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:02,240 Speaker 1: While researching the subject, he hit upon the notion of 28 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:06,000 Speaker 1: converting trash into a source of fuel. It was a 29 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:10,160 Speaker 1: sound idea because, as anyone with a compost pile knows, 30 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:14,560 Speaker 1: when organic waste decomposes, it emits a gas called methane, 31 00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:18,280 Speaker 1: which can be used to produce power. This means that, 32 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:21,720 Speaker 1: in theory, if you had a large enough pile of garbage, 33 00:02:22,040 --> 00:02:25,760 Speaker 1: you could produce a ton of methane, turn it into electricity, 34 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:28,800 Speaker 1: and then sell that to the energy grid of a 35 00:02:28,840 --> 00:02:34,480 Speaker 1: power hungry city. Decades later, landfills do produce energy that way, 36 00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:37,200 Speaker 1: but in the late nineteen eighties it was a new 37 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:41,960 Speaker 1: and largely untested idea. Harrelson knew there was money to 38 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:44,639 Speaker 1: be made, but in order to get his hands on it, 39 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:47,960 Speaker 1: he would first need to source a whole lot of garbage. 40 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:51,760 Speaker 1: He had heard about New York City's dwindling landfill space, 41 00:02:52,040 --> 00:02:54,240 Speaker 1: so he figured that would be the perfect place to 42 00:02:54,360 --> 00:02:58,080 Speaker 1: buy some excess trash. He eventually worked out a deal 43 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:02,280 Speaker 1: with Salvatore Avelino, a local mob boss who happened to 44 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:07,000 Speaker 1: control the trash hauling business in Long Island. Next, Harolson 45 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:10,440 Speaker 1: found a landfill in North Carolina that was willing to 46 00:03:10,480 --> 00:03:13,320 Speaker 1: accept the trash and let him capture the methane that 47 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:17,560 Speaker 1: had generated. Everything was falling into place, and the last 48 00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:20,960 Speaker 1: obstacle remaining was to find a way to transport that 49 00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:25,120 Speaker 1: massive amount of garbage that he needed. Sending a huge 50 00:03:25,120 --> 00:03:28,560 Speaker 1: pile of trash to a different state wasn't a new concept. 51 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:32,120 Speaker 1: New York City's landfills were just about full in the 52 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:35,600 Speaker 1: nineteen eighties, so the city had started paying other less 53 00:03:35,640 --> 00:03:40,680 Speaker 1: populous states to take its garbage, including North Carolina. However, 54 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:45,160 Speaker 1: sending the trash by barge that was new. In the 55 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:48,600 Speaker 1: preceding years, the city had only hauled garbage out of 56 00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:51,839 Speaker 1: state by truck, but Harrelson found that it was much 57 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:55,880 Speaker 1: cheaper by volume to use a barge instead, and so 58 00:03:56,360 --> 00:04:00,520 Speaker 1: with all the arrangements made, Harrelson's twenty ft high pile 59 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:03,920 Speaker 1: of garbage was finally ready to set sail on March 60 00:04:04,040 --> 00:04:09,440 Speaker 1: twenty two. The voyage was novel enough that the press 61 00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:12,760 Speaker 1: reported on it, and spectators even turned out to watch 62 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:16,240 Speaker 1: the barge make its way down the coast. Harrelson had 63 00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:19,159 Speaker 1: saved money by hiring a barge instead of a fleet 64 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:23,039 Speaker 1: of trucks, but he hadn't considered the optics. The more 65 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:26,960 Speaker 1: of the public saw of a massive barge laden with garbage, 66 00:04:27,200 --> 00:04:30,040 Speaker 1: the less they liked the idea of it being unloaded 67 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:34,040 Speaker 1: in their town. Pretty soon, rumors began to swirl that 68 00:04:34,120 --> 00:04:38,400 Speaker 1: the barge contained medical waste and other hazardous material, and 69 00:04:38,480 --> 00:04:42,040 Speaker 1: a photo showing a bedpan tucked in the pile further 70 00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:46,640 Speaker 1: fueled the controversy. By the time the barge reached North Carolina, 71 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:51,279 Speaker 1: residents had already started complaining to their state officials. They 72 00:04:51,279 --> 00:04:53,880 Speaker 1: were too late to stop the barge from docking, but 73 00:04:53,960 --> 00:04:57,159 Speaker 1: they succeeded in getting a court order that blocked the 74 00:04:57,160 --> 00:05:01,200 Speaker 1: trash from being unloaded anywhere in North Carolina. Nina. To 75 00:05:01,279 --> 00:05:05,239 Speaker 1: get away from the public eye, Harrelson instructed Captain Duffy 76 00:05:05,440 --> 00:05:07,760 Speaker 1: to take the barge out to open ocean and to 77 00:05:07,880 --> 00:05:10,320 Speaker 1: drop anchor there until he could figure out what to 78 00:05:10,360 --> 00:05:15,560 Speaker 1: do next. Eventually, other states agreed to let the barge unload, 79 00:05:15,880 --> 00:05:20,360 Speaker 1: but everywhere it went angry crowds numbering in the thousands 80 00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:23,440 Speaker 1: were waiting to turn it away. That's the way it 81 00:05:23,480 --> 00:05:30,320 Speaker 1: went in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. In between 82 00:05:30,360 --> 00:05:34,159 Speaker 1: those rejections, the barge was followed overhead by a helicopter 83 00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:37,479 Speaker 1: and footage of the debacle was played on the nightly news. 84 00:05:38,279 --> 00:05:43,000 Speaker 1: Reporters and newscasters lampooned the barge at every turn, leading 85 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:47,120 Speaker 1: to a host of colorful nicknames, including the Flying Dutchman 86 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:51,640 Speaker 1: of Trash, the Barge to Nowhere, the floating Hot Potato, 87 00:05:52,040 --> 00:05:56,279 Speaker 1: and of course, the gar Barge. At one point, hoping 88 00:05:56,279 --> 00:05:58,600 Speaker 1: to put an end to the controversy, the e p 89 00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:03,480 Speaker 1: A was called into inspect the trash officials donned protective 90 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:06,440 Speaker 1: suits and breathing masks, but in the end they didn't 91 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:10,599 Speaker 1: find anything toxic, just your basic garbage. But by then 92 00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:13,520 Speaker 1: it was too late. The barge had become a symbol 93 00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:16,440 Speaker 1: of America's trash problem, and no one wanted to be 94 00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:20,120 Speaker 1: seen as complicit by allowing that symbol to come ashore. 95 00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:24,039 Speaker 1: In fact, even though Harrelson never tried to send the 96 00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:29,240 Speaker 1: barge to a foreign country, three independent nations, Mexico, Cuba, 97 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:33,040 Speaker 1: and Belize sent out their defense forces to make sure 98 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:37,240 Speaker 1: the barge didn't wander too close to their docks. One 99 00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:41,720 Speaker 1: NBC reporter described the encounter with Mexico and Cuba by 100 00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:44,960 Speaker 1: saying the barge had been quote chased away by the 101 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:49,560 Speaker 1: war planes of two nations. After several months at sea, 102 00:06:49,920 --> 00:06:53,159 Speaker 1: and after wasting a fortune's worth of fuel, the gar 103 00:06:53,279 --> 00:06:56,560 Speaker 1: barge simply turned around and went right back where it 104 00:06:56,640 --> 00:07:00,680 Speaker 1: came from. They returned to New York Harbor on June seventeen, 105 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:04,960 Speaker 1: having logged roughly six thousand miles at sea all the 106 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:09,279 Speaker 1: way to Central America and back again. The barge remained 107 00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:11,880 Speaker 1: floating in the harbor for another month and a half 108 00:07:12,080 --> 00:07:15,160 Speaker 1: while state officials debated what exactly to do with it. 109 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:19,800 Speaker 1: Duffy Saint Pierre, the captain of the barge's tugboat, later 110 00:07:19,840 --> 00:07:24,560 Speaker 1: put the legal wrangling in context. He explained, quote, by 111 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:28,280 Speaker 1: that time, we had so much bad publicity. They were 112 00:07:28,320 --> 00:07:31,320 Speaker 1: saying Jimmy Haffa was buried in the barge and it 113 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:34,720 Speaker 1: was carrying nuclear waste and you name it. So they 114 00:07:34,720 --> 00:07:39,080 Speaker 1: didn't want it. They wanted us to get out. Eventually, 115 00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:42,480 Speaker 1: a deal was struck that allowed the barge to unload 116 00:07:42,520 --> 00:07:46,400 Speaker 1: in New York City. Its cargo was incinerated in Brooklyn 117 00:07:46,480 --> 00:07:50,320 Speaker 1: that August, and on September one, the first truckload of 118 00:07:50,440 --> 00:07:53,840 Speaker 1: ash from that waste was buried at the landfill in 119 00:07:53,960 --> 00:07:57,520 Speaker 1: i Slop, the very place from which the garbage had originated. 120 00:07:58,440 --> 00:08:02,880 Speaker 1: The embarrassing saga continued to generate national headlines and news 121 00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:07,200 Speaker 1: reports for weeks to come. Dan Rather called it, quote 122 00:08:07,520 --> 00:08:10,960 Speaker 1: the most watched load of garbage in the memory of Man. 123 00:08:11,680 --> 00:08:14,720 Speaker 1: Tonight's show hosts Johnny Carson also got a lot of 124 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:18,720 Speaker 1: mileage out of the story, especially once an enterprising mail 125 00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:24,040 Speaker 1: order company began selling packets of actual garbage allegedly sourced 126 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:28,280 Speaker 1: from the infamous barge. The company advised interested customers to 127 00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:32,840 Speaker 1: get their orders in fast because quote, the cockroach eggs 128 00:08:33,080 --> 00:08:37,240 Speaker 1: are starting to hatch. Carson later opened one of the 129 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:39,960 Speaker 1: packages on the air to see if it really was 130 00:08:40,040 --> 00:08:43,520 Speaker 1: full of trash. Here's how that went. It's called garb 131 00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:48,080 Speaker 1: barge and you and it gives you on the back, 132 00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:50,480 Speaker 1: it shows you the story of the bar, story of 133 00:08:50,480 --> 00:08:52,040 Speaker 1: the barge, and where it went and is there really 134 00:08:52,040 --> 00:08:57,880 Speaker 1: garbage in here? That's what they say it smells moving 135 00:08:57,880 --> 00:09:14,000 Speaker 1: it up before meat loops. Nearly forty years later, America's 136 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:18,000 Speaker 1: efforts to dispose of or recycle it's trash have improved 137 00:09:18,040 --> 00:09:20,959 Speaker 1: by leaps and bounds, but there's still a long way 138 00:09:21,040 --> 00:09:24,800 Speaker 1: left to go. For example, New York City now sends 139 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:27,840 Speaker 1: about twenty three thousand tons of garbage out of the 140 00:09:27,840 --> 00:09:33,000 Speaker 1: city every day, the equivalent of seven mobro barges. The 141 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:36,360 Speaker 1: mantra seems to be out of sight, out of mind, 142 00:09:36,840 --> 00:09:39,920 Speaker 1: but that approach can only work or appear to work, 143 00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:43,800 Speaker 1: for so long. And that's what makes this ridiculous barge 144 00:09:43,840 --> 00:09:48,000 Speaker 1: story worth remembering. It's a reminder that refusing to deal 145 00:09:48,080 --> 00:09:53,120 Speaker 1: with a problem doesn't mean it will just float away. 146 00:09:53,800 --> 00:09:57,240 Speaker 1: I'm Gabe Lousier and hopefully you now know a little 147 00:09:57,280 --> 00:10:00,400 Speaker 1: more about history today than you did yes your day. 148 00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:02,920 Speaker 1: If you want to keep up with the show, you 149 00:10:02,960 --> 00:10:06,560 Speaker 1: can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at t 150 00:10:06,679 --> 00:10:10,320 Speaker 1: d i HC Show and if you have any comments 151 00:10:10,440 --> 00:10:13,320 Speaker 1: or suggestions, you can always send them my way. At 152 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:17,680 Speaker 1: this day at I heart media dot com. Definitely drop 153 00:10:17,760 --> 00:10:19,560 Speaker 1: me a line if you know where I can get 154 00:10:19,559 --> 00:10:22,760 Speaker 1: my hands on one of those souvenir trash packets. I 155 00:10:22,840 --> 00:10:25,320 Speaker 1: know I've got plenty of perfectly good trash at home, 156 00:10:25,440 --> 00:10:29,200 Speaker 1: but it's not nearly as historic or well traveled, So 157 00:10:29,240 --> 00:10:32,440 Speaker 1: if you've got any leads, let me know. Thanks to 158 00:10:32,559 --> 00:10:36,080 Speaker 1: Chandler Mays for producing the show, and thank you for listening. 159 00:10:36,440 --> 00:10:39,520 Speaker 1: I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another day 160 00:10:39,679 --> 00:10:40,680 Speaker 1: in history class.