1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:04,680 Speaker 1: From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is 2 00:00:04,760 --> 00:00:09,080 Speaker 1: riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or 3 00:00:09,200 --> 00:00:12,079 Speaker 1: learn the stuff they don't want you to know. A 4 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:25,799 Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio. Hello, welcome back to the show. 5 00:00:25,880 --> 00:00:28,480 Speaker 1: My name is Met, my name is Noel. They called 6 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:31,520 Speaker 1: me Ben. We're joined as always with our super producer 7 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:35,639 Speaker 1: Paul Mission Control Decond. Most importantly, you are you. You 8 00:00:35,680 --> 00:00:39,159 Speaker 1: are here, and that makes this the stuff they don't 9 00:00:39,159 --> 00:00:43,280 Speaker 1: want you to know. Fellow conspiracy realists, regardless of your 10 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:48,720 Speaker 1: political inclinations, your own personal beliefs or ideologies, one thing's 11 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:53,120 Speaker 1: for sure. Captain Planet was right. Uh. The world is 12 00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:56,400 Speaker 1: burning down as we record. Good morning, by the way, 13 00:00:56,640 --> 00:01:00,600 Speaker 1: and uh we we hope that you are having at 14 00:01:00,680 --> 00:01:05,479 Speaker 1: least a tolerable time while we watch civilization slide into 15 00:01:05,520 --> 00:01:11,039 Speaker 1: a not quite inevitable catastrophe. Today's story is one that's 16 00:01:11,080 --> 00:01:13,560 Speaker 1: a long time and coming, both in terms of our 17 00:01:13,640 --> 00:01:18,440 Speaker 1: show and in terms of the conspiracy and cover up 18 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:21,960 Speaker 1: coming to light. This is not a conspiracy theory. This 19 00:01:22,040 --> 00:01:25,800 Speaker 1: is a true story. Uh. This is something that probably 20 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:31,679 Speaker 1: affects some of our fellow listeners to this day. Here 21 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:35,800 Speaker 1: the facts we're going to Niagara Falls, And we kind 22 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:39,120 Speaker 1: of have to explain Niagara Falls a little bit because 23 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:42,280 Speaker 1: it's super confusing if you're not from the U. S. 24 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:45,280 Speaker 1: It's a beautiful place, right, That's where Pam and Pam 25 00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:50,240 Speaker 1: and Jim got secretly married. Spoiler alert from the American Office. Sorry. Yeah, 26 00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:53,000 Speaker 1: in this case, we're going to Niagara Falls, New York 27 00:01:53,720 --> 00:01:57,640 Speaker 1: and it's a it's a beautiful place. I'm looking at 28 00:01:57,680 --> 00:02:02,440 Speaker 1: it on Google Maps right now, Uh, specifically looking at 29 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:07,320 Speaker 1: just all the rivers and the giant lakes that are 30 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:10,160 Speaker 1: that are roaming around there, the great ones, and when 31 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:13,920 Speaker 1: it freezes on rare occasions, that looks amazing. It is 32 00:02:14,040 --> 00:02:17,400 Speaker 1: currently illegal to put yourself in a barrel and go 33 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:21,280 Speaker 1: over the edge of one of those waterfalls for kicks. Uh. 34 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:26,040 Speaker 1: People have done it, people have done it in real life, uh, 35 00:02:26,040 --> 00:02:30,080 Speaker 1: and some have survived. So Niagara Falls, if you're not 36 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:32,640 Speaker 1: familiar with the area, it is the name for several 37 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:36,320 Speaker 1: things in this region. First the beautiful falls, uh. Then 38 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:40,519 Speaker 1: secondly two different cities both with the same name, one 39 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:44,079 Speaker 1: in the States, one in Canada. And then there's another 40 00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:47,720 Speaker 1: place nearby, a smaller place that's just known as Niagara. 41 00:02:47,919 --> 00:02:50,360 Speaker 1: You'll see it called the town of Niagara. What we're 42 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:52,400 Speaker 1: saying is they took the name Niagara and they just 43 00:02:52,440 --> 00:02:55,400 Speaker 1: went nuts with it. They were like this works, rents 44 00:02:55,400 --> 00:03:00,600 Speaker 1: and repeat one another one. Yes, d J. Cow. So 45 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:05,000 Speaker 1: the the US city Niagara Falls, the subject of today's show, 46 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:08,640 Speaker 1: is still you know, due to its location by the falls, 47 00:03:08,680 --> 00:03:13,639 Speaker 1: it's still a pretty popular tourism destination. Uh. It has 48 00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:18,280 Speaker 1: a fairly large population around a little north of forty 49 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:20,960 Speaker 1: eight thousand, six hundred people. That's a fact that's going 50 00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:24,560 Speaker 1: to be sadly important later because once upon a time, 51 00:03:25,120 --> 00:03:28,240 Speaker 1: many many more people lived there. I love that you're 52 00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:32,919 Speaker 1: mentioning the map, Matt, because if you picture New York State, 53 00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:37,080 Speaker 1: which is one of those very weirdly shaped states, Niagara 54 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:41,480 Speaker 1: is on the far far northwestern corner, and it's been 55 00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:44,880 Speaker 1: home to human beings for a long long time because 56 00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:47,440 Speaker 1: it's such a it's by such a great water source, 57 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:51,840 Speaker 1: and like we discussed earlier, that's usually one of the biggest, 58 00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:56,600 Speaker 1: if not the biggest, determining factor for where civilizations begin. Yes, 59 00:03:56,640 --> 00:03:59,160 Speaker 1: it is not just a coincidence that those places are 60 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:02,080 Speaker 1: called Niagara because of that Niagara River that connects up 61 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:06,680 Speaker 1: to major bodies of water and uh, the I guess 62 00:04:06,760 --> 00:04:09,240 Speaker 1: let's should we talk about the exact place that we're 63 00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:13,240 Speaker 1: going in this area? Why not? Specificity is the name 64 00:04:13,240 --> 00:04:16,400 Speaker 1: of the game, guys. Yeah, if you're playing Cinema of 65 00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:19,800 Speaker 1: the Mind with us today, folks, picture yourself like one 66 00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:24,560 Speaker 1: of those investigators on a procedural drama. You're looking at 67 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:27,279 Speaker 1: a at a satellite map and you go enhance and 68 00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:32,040 Speaker 1: then you know, the computer person is like, so you're 69 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:37,440 Speaker 1: enhancing your zooming in to a neighborhood called love Canal, 70 00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:41,640 Speaker 1: that's its real name. Yeah, let's get the sex jokes 71 00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:43,840 Speaker 1: in early. Let's squeeze him in. Oh no, no, we 72 00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:45,720 Speaker 1: got we got a lot of show to squeeze those 73 00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:50,599 Speaker 1: in organically, it's gonna happen. But you love Canal that yeah, 74 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:54,240 Speaker 1: of course immediately you know euphemism for uh, sexy parts. 75 00:04:54,320 --> 00:04:57,640 Speaker 1: But also I picture like tunnel of love type situations 76 00:04:57,640 --> 00:04:59,640 Speaker 1: where you're you and you're sweetie, you know, are in 77 00:04:59,680 --> 00:05:02,880 Speaker 1: a s on boat going through a tunnel um with 78 00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:05,040 Speaker 1: like you know, cupids and stuff everywhere. And I've never 79 00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:07,000 Speaker 1: actually seen one of those in the real world. I've 80 00:05:07,040 --> 00:05:09,560 Speaker 1: only seen them in like movies. You guys have seen 81 00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:13,760 Speaker 1: a real tunnel of love amusement. Yeah. Yeah, over time 82 00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:16,600 Speaker 1: a lot of them got replaced with like tunnel of 83 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:22,839 Speaker 1: spookiness kind of vibes like yeah, I love his terrifying 84 00:05:22,839 --> 00:05:26,800 Speaker 1: Are you kidding? But the so there's uh, Matt, you 85 00:05:26,880 --> 00:05:29,560 Speaker 1: and I were talking about this off air castor memory back. 86 00:05:30,279 --> 00:05:35,440 Speaker 1: It's eight nine. There's a guy named William T. Love 87 00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:38,919 Speaker 1: Billy Love to his friends as he said, he's a 88 00:05:39,080 --> 00:05:43,440 Speaker 1: he's a railroad man. He's a forward thinker, and he says, 89 00:05:43,760 --> 00:05:49,159 Speaker 1: I want to build a community to leverage hydro electric power, 90 00:05:49,480 --> 00:05:53,159 Speaker 1: which sounds very progressive nowadays, but nine was a very 91 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:57,120 Speaker 1: different time and people didn't treat uh, stuff like hydro 92 00:05:57,200 --> 00:06:01,080 Speaker 1: electric energy as the so called alternative energy sources. But 93 00:06:01,200 --> 00:06:03,120 Speaker 1: when you say a railroad man, do you mean like 94 00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:06,919 Speaker 1: railroad tycoon or like a railroad like he worked on 95 00:06:06,960 --> 00:06:11,919 Speaker 1: the rails. He was a hobo. No, I'm kidding, he 96 00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:14,520 Speaker 1: was no no, uh yeah, let's learn a little bit. 97 00:06:14,600 --> 00:06:17,680 Speaker 1: Uh he was. You could call him an entrepreneur. I 98 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:22,240 Speaker 1: wouldn't put him in tycoon class, but he was one 99 00:06:22,320 --> 00:06:26,200 Speaker 1: of those forward thinkers. If TED talks were around at 100 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:28,640 Speaker 1: this time, he would have given a TED talk on 101 00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:32,120 Speaker 1: how to build a city. Uh, it would probably been 102 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:35,159 Speaker 1: a great ted talk, but the facts would have not 103 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:39,200 Speaker 1: been especially supportive of his ideas. He was he dreamed big, 104 00:06:39,320 --> 00:06:42,080 Speaker 1: is what we're saying. It's very American dream style. Well, 105 00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:44,520 Speaker 1: he had a great idea, so you kind of have 106 00:06:44,640 --> 00:06:46,920 Speaker 1: to It helps if you look at a map while 107 00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:50,120 Speaker 1: we're talking about this, maybe you should. If you imagine 108 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:55,520 Speaker 1: Lake Ontario, and then from there the Niagara Falls kind 109 00:06:55,520 --> 00:06:59,680 Speaker 1: of moving southward and kind of sneaking around a bit. 110 00:07:00,279 --> 00:07:04,279 Speaker 1: Billy loves idea was to instead of having to use 111 00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:08,080 Speaker 1: the water that's already flowing down Niagara Falls in that 112 00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:11,400 Speaker 1: main channel, was to connect up another part of the 113 00:07:11,480 --> 00:07:13,800 Speaker 1: Niagara River that kind of goes around this thing called 114 00:07:13,800 --> 00:07:18,560 Speaker 1: the Grand Island, and uh, cut through the earth and 115 00:07:18,600 --> 00:07:20,720 Speaker 1: make a new canal that would connect up to that 116 00:07:20,840 --> 00:07:24,000 Speaker 1: lower part or that the kind of channel of the 117 00:07:24,120 --> 00:07:28,480 Speaker 1: river to Lake Ontario, and you would use that water 118 00:07:28,520 --> 00:07:31,520 Speaker 1: flowing through to generate electricity. Is pretty brilliant, A great 119 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:36,400 Speaker 1: grand idea. Yeah, and it bypasses the falls, so it's 120 00:07:36,440 --> 00:07:39,160 Speaker 1: kind of like we're gonna make our own thing. Uh. 121 00:07:39,320 --> 00:07:42,640 Speaker 1: With what's the futurama joke with black Jack and hookers, 122 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:48,080 Speaker 1: and hooker will come into play. Yeah, that's foreshadowing. So 123 00:07:48,400 --> 00:07:52,560 Speaker 1: the he calls this place model City, New York, and 124 00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:56,239 Speaker 1: his idea is ambitious, but it's also pretty brilliant because 125 00:07:56,440 --> 00:08:01,000 Speaker 1: at the time, one of the big problems with electricity, 126 00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:07,960 Speaker 1: however generated, was how to transmit it efficiently over long distances. 127 00:08:08,040 --> 00:08:11,480 Speaker 1: So this is why hydro electric stuff made sense. He thought, 128 00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:14,040 Speaker 1: I will build this way to generate hydro electric power, 129 00:08:14,360 --> 00:08:17,960 Speaker 1: and then industries are going to come to me. Manufacturers 130 00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:22,160 Speaker 1: will build plants along the canal. And as work began 131 00:08:22,280 --> 00:08:26,200 Speaker 1: on this in, he's moving as quickly as he could. Uh. 132 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:30,160 Speaker 1: There were manufacturers who had already kind of bought in, Uh, 133 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:33,600 Speaker 1: investors who had put some money on the table for it. 134 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:38,120 Speaker 1: Other other businesses are like sniffing around because it seems 135 00:08:38,200 --> 00:08:43,440 Speaker 1: like a good deal, but they were beset poor Willie 136 00:08:43,440 --> 00:08:48,120 Speaker 1: Loving Company by a number of disasters. There's a thing 137 00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:51,560 Speaker 1: called there's a children's book called Camember of the kid's name, 138 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:55,120 Speaker 1: but it's like that no good, very bad, terrible something 139 00:08:55,320 --> 00:09:00,320 Speaker 1: day Alexander and the no good, terrible, very bad day, 140 00:09:00,320 --> 00:09:02,800 Speaker 1: and he's just having a real bad name. Yeah. Yeah, 141 00:09:02,840 --> 00:09:06,559 Speaker 1: And and love is having like an extended version of 142 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:10,160 Speaker 1: this for a while. So first there's a thing called 143 00:09:10,559 --> 00:09:15,440 Speaker 1: the Panic of eight economic disaster. Most investors are just 144 00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:19,439 Speaker 1: trying to survive. They can't be part of this crazy 145 00:09:19,559 --> 00:09:23,760 Speaker 1: future town. Uh. And then environmentalists come into play, and 146 00:09:23,800 --> 00:09:25,880 Speaker 1: they will appear a couple of times in the story. 147 00:09:26,080 --> 00:09:31,880 Speaker 1: In nineteen o six and early environmental group lobbies Congress 148 00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:36,640 Speaker 1: to pass a law meant to protect the natural state 149 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:40,240 Speaker 1: of the Niagara River in the falls, and so they're 150 00:09:40,280 --> 00:09:44,880 Speaker 1: successful in their lobbying, and Congress eventually banns the removal 151 00:09:45,080 --> 00:09:48,200 Speaker 1: of water from the river, which means if you're a guy, 152 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:50,600 Speaker 1: any old guy who happens to be digging a canal 153 00:09:51,400 --> 00:09:54,600 Speaker 1: powered by water coming from the river, you just sort 154 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:57,920 Speaker 1: of became a criminal if you keep doing. Yeah. But 155 00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:00,960 Speaker 1: but hey, we can work around that. We're powerful, we 156 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:03,680 Speaker 1: can get more investors. These are not problems that we 157 00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:07,480 Speaker 1: can't solve. But then guess what happens immediately after that 158 00:10:08,280 --> 00:10:13,760 Speaker 1: another panic, This was this time in n Yeah, another 159 00:10:13,920 --> 00:10:19,120 Speaker 1: economic panic. So remaining investors who have still you know, 160 00:10:19,200 --> 00:10:21,760 Speaker 1: maybe they have some cost fallacy up to this point. 161 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:24,480 Speaker 1: Maybe they're like, Okay, I'm just gonna hold on, and 162 00:10:24,520 --> 00:10:29,200 Speaker 1: they have to let go around this time too. In history, uh, 163 00:10:29,400 --> 00:10:32,920 Speaker 1: good friend of the show Nicola, Tesla figures out how 164 00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:39,800 Speaker 1: to transmit electricity over log distances with alternating current. Uh. 165 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:42,840 Speaker 1: You can learn more about Tesla and or YouTube videos 166 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:46,480 Speaker 1: and earlier episodes. Learn about elephants and other animals being 167 00:10:46,520 --> 00:10:51,520 Speaker 1: shocked sometimes to death and electricity. You've got to break 168 00:10:51,520 --> 00:10:57,160 Speaker 1: a few elephants, or hopefully you'll have to break a 169 00:10:57,160 --> 00:11:03,000 Speaker 1: few Edison's God, that guy's effect on anyhow anyhow. Yeah, 170 00:11:03,080 --> 00:11:05,200 Speaker 1: this is bad. This is bad for our boy. Willie 171 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:09,440 Speaker 1: Love in the Dream is dead. You know what I mean. 172 00:11:09,559 --> 00:11:12,640 Speaker 1: It's like that song in Lams and all that was 173 00:11:12,760 --> 00:11:18,840 Speaker 1: left to commemorate his ambition. It's very like that poem 174 00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:22,480 Speaker 1: Ozamandious look upon my works, you mighty. Uh. There's a 175 00:11:22,559 --> 00:11:26,960 Speaker 1: partial ditch where it started digging the canal before all 176 00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:30,640 Speaker 1: his dreams went to pot. Uh. It's it's huge. It's 177 00:11:30,679 --> 00:11:33,200 Speaker 1: you don't imagine a little like ditch you know that 178 00:11:33,280 --> 00:11:36,000 Speaker 1: you've seen on the side of the road. This is big. Yeah, 179 00:11:36,040 --> 00:11:39,640 Speaker 1: it goes for city blocks. It is you know, it 180 00:11:39,679 --> 00:11:43,440 Speaker 1: would have carried a significant amount of water. It is 181 00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:50,400 Speaker 1: slowly filling with water over time. The season's past snow, rain, sleet, hail, 182 00:11:50,679 --> 00:11:54,800 Speaker 1: and local start treating it like like a watering hole, 183 00:11:55,280 --> 00:11:57,560 Speaker 1: which is fine because it's big enough that it's not 184 00:11:57,720 --> 00:12:01,680 Speaker 1: going to disappear, right it's uh, it's going to be 185 00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:04,320 Speaker 1: a semi permanent fixture for these folks. So if you're 186 00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:07,400 Speaker 1: growing up in the area at this time, you might 187 00:12:07,440 --> 00:12:09,880 Speaker 1: swim there in the summer. If we go back with 188 00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:13,560 Speaker 1: the idea of dating, you might get some skates and 189 00:12:13,640 --> 00:12:16,560 Speaker 1: uh and take your honey out there when the water freezes. 190 00:12:16,960 --> 00:12:20,199 Speaker 1: So it's just now it's like a local attraction. And 191 00:12:20,720 --> 00:12:26,480 Speaker 1: the city authorities quietly for about ten fifteen years, they've 192 00:12:26,520 --> 00:12:31,440 Speaker 1: been thinking of ways to better use this land. Skate 193 00:12:31,520 --> 00:12:35,560 Speaker 1: park is fine, local pond to swimming is okay, but 194 00:12:35,640 --> 00:12:37,480 Speaker 1: what else can we do with it? Keep in mind 195 00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:42,600 Speaker 1: Niagara Falls, New York. The city is growing growing at 196 00:12:42,600 --> 00:12:46,000 Speaker 1: this time. So they say, okay, we're gonna turn this 197 00:12:46,200 --> 00:12:48,920 Speaker 1: into the town dump. You got a lot of people, 198 00:12:48,960 --> 00:12:51,520 Speaker 1: which means there's a lot of trash. We're gonna put 199 00:12:51,559 --> 00:12:54,400 Speaker 1: the trash here, just regular trash at this point, you 200 00:12:54,400 --> 00:12:58,000 Speaker 1: know what I mean, just like as far as food 201 00:12:58,040 --> 00:13:00,680 Speaker 1: scraps and and really our guests or is based on 202 00:13:00,720 --> 00:13:03,600 Speaker 1: the technology at the time. That's what that's why we 203 00:13:03,640 --> 00:13:06,839 Speaker 1: can say, you know, just normal trash, because we live 204 00:13:06,880 --> 00:13:11,440 Speaker 1: in the era of incredibly dangerous trash. So yeah, I 205 00:13:11,440 --> 00:13:15,440 Speaker 1: mean there's this, uh, there's this garbage mountain here in Atlanta, 206 00:13:15,640 --> 00:13:18,960 Speaker 1: um off of Moreland. You can see it literally from 207 00:13:19,200 --> 00:13:21,720 Speaker 1: you know, like a mile away, and that's where they 208 00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:25,000 Speaker 1: keep the recycling. But yet it never seems to get smaller. 209 00:13:25,640 --> 00:13:28,000 Speaker 1: And if you look at it, it's like they clear 210 00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:30,240 Speaker 1: a path to the tops of these dozers can go 211 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:32,520 Speaker 1: up there and just dump stuff on there. And I 212 00:13:32,600 --> 00:13:35,360 Speaker 1: just don't buy that it's all recycling. Just anyway, that's 213 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:40,200 Speaker 1: a story for another day. Like the landfills. Landfills are 214 00:13:40,200 --> 00:13:42,160 Speaker 1: a hell of a thing. It's like someone was just 215 00:13:42,240 --> 00:13:45,040 Speaker 1: like some brilliant fellow was just like, hey, what if 216 00:13:45,040 --> 00:13:46,679 Speaker 1: we just put all our trashes in a hole on 217 00:13:46,720 --> 00:13:49,360 Speaker 1: the ground and forget about it. That'd be cool, right 218 00:13:50,240 --> 00:13:56,920 Speaker 1: with Grandpa, right exactly? So this is this is yeah, sorry, 219 00:13:57,120 --> 00:13:59,920 Speaker 1: but like you, you guys are pointing out a really 220 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:02,959 Speaker 1: important thing, the idea of something being out of sight, 221 00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:05,440 Speaker 1: out of mind, and that is a huge part of 222 00:14:05,480 --> 00:14:09,320 Speaker 1: this conspiracy. So they're they're using it as the town 223 00:14:09,720 --> 00:14:13,160 Speaker 1: junk keep for a while landfill and they do this 224 00:14:13,240 --> 00:14:17,640 Speaker 1: for about two decades in the late nineteen forties. This 225 00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:21,280 Speaker 1: is where the Hooker comes into play. Hooker Chemical Company. 226 00:14:21,440 --> 00:14:25,160 Speaker 1: That's right, we're not we're sex positive on this show. 227 00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:28,560 Speaker 1: We're never going to call sex workers, uh, those kind 228 00:14:28,640 --> 00:14:33,120 Speaker 1: of terms. There is an actual Hooker Chemical company and 229 00:14:33,240 --> 00:14:37,760 Speaker 1: they came to town and they said, uh, let's make 230 00:14:37,760 --> 00:14:40,720 Speaker 1: a deal. Yeah, oh, in a deal they didn't make. 231 00:14:41,080 --> 00:14:45,080 Speaker 1: By the way, this is the second Ellen I've ever 232 00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:47,520 Speaker 1: come across who was a founder of a company. Correct 233 00:14:47,520 --> 00:14:50,000 Speaker 1: me if I'm wrong here, guys, But the founder of 234 00:14:50,040 --> 00:14:54,120 Speaker 1: the Hooker Chemical Company was Elon Hooker and found He 235 00:14:54,160 --> 00:14:57,480 Speaker 1: founded it in that area in Niagara, like on the 236 00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:00,720 Speaker 1: shores of the Niagara River, according to Politico dot com 237 00:15:00,800 --> 00:15:04,240 Speaker 1: in nineteen o five. And a lot of this company 238 00:15:04,320 --> 00:15:08,160 Speaker 1: is active in a lot of chlorination technologies, so they're 239 00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:15,160 Speaker 1: working with various chemicals that definitely have needful industrial uses 240 00:15:15,200 --> 00:15:18,640 Speaker 1: but are not super good. Well, this was the era 241 00:15:18,760 --> 00:15:21,720 Speaker 1: of that, right where it's like, oh, magical chemical that 242 00:15:21,880 --> 00:15:25,480 Speaker 1: does a dirty job, let's just throw it on everything 243 00:15:25,560 --> 00:15:29,760 Speaker 1: and caution to the wind, and then find out a 244 00:15:29,840 --> 00:15:33,000 Speaker 1: decade later that it gave everyone cancer. What can is 245 00:15:33,040 --> 00:15:36,160 Speaker 1: best is not do folks. Yeah, this is where our 246 00:15:36,360 --> 00:15:39,360 Speaker 1: story begins. It's a story almost a century in the making. 247 00:15:39,840 --> 00:15:44,080 Speaker 1: It remains one of the most disturbing, sadly prescient tales 248 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:48,240 Speaker 1: of slow burned disaster in US history. This is a disaster, 249 00:15:49,200 --> 00:15:52,200 Speaker 1: like the Yellow King, It exists beyond time. It doesn't 250 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:55,080 Speaker 1: just exist in the past. It functions as a harbinger. 251 00:15:55,120 --> 00:15:58,120 Speaker 1: As we'll see, it's a fable, a parable that could 252 00:15:58,120 --> 00:16:02,360 Speaker 1: be repeated beat four beat through any number of towns 253 00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:05,400 Speaker 1: in the United States. Today, we're gonna pause for a 254 00:16:05,400 --> 00:16:08,240 Speaker 1: word from our sponsor, and then we'll dive into some 255 00:16:08,640 --> 00:16:18,760 Speaker 1: very polluted waters. Here's where it gets crazy, all right, 256 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:23,440 Speaker 1: it's the nineties fifties. Everybody imagine the Transatlantic voice. People 257 00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:26,760 Speaker 1: are doing, you know, weird dances and stuff. Uh, the 258 00:16:26,880 --> 00:16:31,040 Speaker 1: cars look really nice. Business is good for America, especially 259 00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:34,320 Speaker 1: post World War two economic boom, and that means business 260 00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:37,960 Speaker 1: is good for the town of Niagara Falls. Their population 261 00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:45,280 Speaker 1: is exploding, don't the only thing that's exploding. Yeah, exactly. 262 00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:49,960 Speaker 1: On top of the waters may seem placid, but beneath 263 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:54,400 Speaker 1: there's a flurry of activity, chemical activity. Yeah. So there's 264 00:16:54,400 --> 00:16:56,160 Speaker 1: a boom on a couple of levels. You've got you know, 265 00:16:56,240 --> 00:16:59,080 Speaker 1: when you've got industry coming in, people spending money, is 266 00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:01,440 Speaker 1: going to be a population boom. People want to move there. 267 00:17:01,800 --> 00:17:05,000 Speaker 1: In the forties and fifties, because of that, the town 268 00:17:05,520 --> 00:17:08,360 Speaker 1: was doing very well and the population expanded to over 269 00:17:08,400 --> 00:17:12,200 Speaker 1: a hundred thousand people by nineteen sixty, about a hundred 270 00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:15,000 Speaker 1: and two well not about exactly a hundred and two thousand, 271 00:17:15,200 --> 00:17:18,520 Speaker 1: hundred nine, according to census data from the from the 272 00:17:18,640 --> 00:17:22,639 Speaker 1: from the year. UH. The Hooker Chemical Company was participating 273 00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:26,520 Speaker 1: hand over fist in these boom times. They're so successful 274 00:17:26,520 --> 00:17:28,680 Speaker 1: in fact, that they had a bit of a problem, 275 00:17:28,720 --> 00:17:31,879 Speaker 1: and it's a byproduct of a good problem. Uh, making 276 00:17:31,920 --> 00:17:34,520 Speaker 1: lots of money because of selling lots of chemicals. But 277 00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:39,080 Speaker 1: what are we gonna do with all this industrial waste? Yeah, 278 00:17:39,480 --> 00:17:42,240 Speaker 1: I mean it's a real thing. Because you know, when 279 00:17:42,240 --> 00:17:45,439 Speaker 1: these chemical companies were really had their boom in general, 280 00:17:45,560 --> 00:17:48,560 Speaker 1: chemical companies in the early nineteen hundreds up until about 281 00:17:48,560 --> 00:17:52,320 Speaker 1: this time, and then continued forward, the thought was, will 282 00:17:52,320 --> 00:17:54,520 Speaker 1: take all these chemicals, will make other chemicals, and we'll 283 00:17:54,600 --> 00:17:57,760 Speaker 1: use those, you know, to make products. And a lot 284 00:17:57,840 --> 00:18:02,600 Speaker 1: of those chemicals have byproducts, or stuff you can't use afterwards, 285 00:18:02,680 --> 00:18:05,640 Speaker 1: or stuff that's generated from creating a third chemical out 286 00:18:05,640 --> 00:18:09,520 Speaker 1: of two or more, right, um, And so much of 287 00:18:09,560 --> 00:18:12,840 Speaker 1: it was being generated that they just had to dump 288 00:18:12,880 --> 00:18:17,159 Speaker 1: it just This is still one of those eras of 289 00:18:17,520 --> 00:18:21,640 Speaker 1: Western history where a lot of companies were before they 290 00:18:21,720 --> 00:18:24,640 Speaker 1: threw stuff away, they tried to figure out whether there 291 00:18:24,720 --> 00:18:29,040 Speaker 1: was some other method of transforming it into a product 292 00:18:29,080 --> 00:18:32,560 Speaker 1: that could be sold. That's the reason American bacon is 293 00:18:32,560 --> 00:18:36,119 Speaker 1: different from Canadian bacon or what American excuse me, what 294 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:39,159 Speaker 1: people in the US called bacon is different from what 295 00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:41,879 Speaker 1: people in Canada and the rest of the world called bacon. 296 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:46,000 Speaker 1: It's also the reason there are things like cream of tartar, right, 297 00:18:47,359 --> 00:18:50,160 Speaker 1: literally stuff scraped off of barrels. That's how I found that, 298 00:18:50,320 --> 00:18:53,600 Speaker 1: and they sell it in grocery stores across the planet today. 299 00:18:53,680 --> 00:18:57,640 Speaker 1: So they went through the Hooker Company went through different 300 00:18:58,320 --> 00:19:01,440 Speaker 1: iterations of trying to find a use for this waste. 301 00:19:01,760 --> 00:19:04,359 Speaker 1: Like you said, they couldn't and they had this surplus, 302 00:19:04,960 --> 00:19:09,280 Speaker 1: and so they came to Niagara Falls, perhaps doing a 303 00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:14,520 Speaker 1: Monty Burns steeple with their hands, you know. And from 304 00:19:15,480 --> 00:19:20,640 Speaker 1: two to nineteen fifty three at least this company, with 305 00:19:20,720 --> 00:19:25,280 Speaker 1: the knowing approval of the local government, use the canal 306 00:19:25,480 --> 00:19:29,600 Speaker 1: as a chemical waste dump and use it. They used 307 00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:32,920 Speaker 1: it to great extent. Uh. If you look at it now, 308 00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:35,520 Speaker 1: you will see that over this time period they dumped 309 00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:40,600 Speaker 1: anywhere from twenty to twenty two thousand tons of all 310 00:19:40,640 --> 00:19:45,400 Speaker 1: sorts of chemicals with very little concern for mixing those 311 00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:49,880 Speaker 1: chemicals or how to treat specific substances. At least twelve 312 00:19:50,240 --> 00:19:53,640 Speaker 1: of the chemicals somewhere in that twenty one tons are 313 00:19:54,080 --> 00:19:59,119 Speaker 1: known carcinogens, and they just popped them in metal barrels. 314 00:19:59,119 --> 00:20:01,320 Speaker 1: That's the best way to say. We can walk through 315 00:20:01,359 --> 00:20:03,800 Speaker 1: like what a containment barrel is, but we don't really 316 00:20:03,840 --> 00:20:07,000 Speaker 1: need to like picture and oil drum exactly, and we 317 00:20:07,040 --> 00:20:10,280 Speaker 1: can at least say that the chemical company did line 318 00:20:10,320 --> 00:20:13,840 Speaker 1: the entire area, like the bottom of it with a 319 00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:17,560 Speaker 1: clay that they thought would be protective. They also covered 320 00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:23,080 Speaker 1: all those chemicals with clay, thinking oh, this will help. Um, 321 00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:25,080 Speaker 1: you can you can imagine that they thought it would help. 322 00:20:25,320 --> 00:20:28,280 Speaker 1: And just the last thing from the reporting that we've 323 00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:32,199 Speaker 1: been going through, only one chemical at the time that 324 00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:35,240 Speaker 1: they dumped in there was a known carcinogen at the 325 00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:40,400 Speaker 1: time the others were like maybe some maybe this could 326 00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:45,880 Speaker 1: cause harm it that way, Yeah, but still they knew 327 00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:49,720 Speaker 1: enough to not try adding dioxen to eliminate or something. Right, Like, 328 00:20:49,880 --> 00:20:53,960 Speaker 1: they knew this stuff was bad, and that's the attempted 329 00:20:54,240 --> 00:20:59,000 Speaker 1: to yet to enclose it in kind of a clay shell. Uh, 330 00:20:59,040 --> 00:21:02,080 Speaker 1: the the idea that anything that might leak from those 331 00:21:02,119 --> 00:21:04,919 Speaker 1: barrels wouldn't get through the clay. But you have to 332 00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:07,600 Speaker 1: wonder about their motivations here. This is a part that 333 00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:12,239 Speaker 1: still remains a matter of speculation. So they when they 334 00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:15,840 Speaker 1: are done with this landfill, which is now filled with 335 00:21:15,880 --> 00:21:19,760 Speaker 1: hazardous wighs sixteen acres of it, tens of thousands of tons, 336 00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:22,480 Speaker 1: they sell it not to the city but to the 337 00:21:22,560 --> 00:21:25,879 Speaker 1: Niagara Falls school Board, and they sell it for a 338 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:31,720 Speaker 1: dollar with a caveat. So my question there their caveat 339 00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:35,919 Speaker 1: is we are never responsible by by giving us this 340 00:21:36,040 --> 00:21:39,960 Speaker 1: dollar and taking this land you agree that forever to 341 00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:42,920 Speaker 1: the end of time, we are not responsible for anything 342 00:21:42,960 --> 00:21:47,280 Speaker 1: that might happen to anyone ever in this area. Yeah, 343 00:21:49,240 --> 00:21:54,600 Speaker 1: this whole dirty business. Yep. So I want to ask 344 00:21:54,640 --> 00:21:58,240 Speaker 1: you is do you think that's just like standard boilerplate 345 00:21:58,359 --> 00:22:01,879 Speaker 1: legal agreement anguish at the time. Do you think they 346 00:22:01,920 --> 00:22:05,200 Speaker 1: were motivated by some charitable aspect, you know, to give 347 00:22:05,240 --> 00:22:08,680 Speaker 1: back to the city. Can you say, anytime you see 348 00:22:08,800 --> 00:22:12,000 Speaker 1: in like film or TV or what have you, somebody 349 00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:15,000 Speaker 1: selling somebody something for a dollar as like some sort 350 00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:19,360 Speaker 1: of like faux legal protection. Usually something shady is going 351 00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:21,480 Speaker 1: on where it's like, quick, give me a dollar, I'll 352 00:22:21,480 --> 00:22:25,560 Speaker 1: be your lawyer, and then'll give us a client lawyer privilege. 353 00:22:25,600 --> 00:22:27,879 Speaker 1: All of a sudden, does that really hold up? Like 354 00:22:27,920 --> 00:22:31,520 Speaker 1: he paid me, See I have this dollar, Like come 355 00:22:31,560 --> 00:22:37,199 Speaker 1: on that slipping Jimmy stuff. Well, if you give someone 356 00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:41,399 Speaker 1: a car, for instance, it's really common to just say 357 00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:43,679 Speaker 1: on the on the title that you sold it for 358 00:22:43,720 --> 00:22:45,880 Speaker 1: a dollar. I don't know at that point, I don't 359 00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:49,920 Speaker 1: know if people actually do exchange the dollar. Uh, maybe 360 00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:52,960 Speaker 1: they do. But you're right, you're right, it is. It 361 00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:59,720 Speaker 1: is pretty suss. So this town takes this deal, and 362 00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:04,359 Speaker 1: the city goes on very shortly afterwards to build a 363 00:23:04,480 --> 00:23:08,639 Speaker 1: school directly over the site, and then they also build 364 00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:13,720 Speaker 1: housing again directly over the site. And during this construction 365 00:23:14,359 --> 00:23:20,840 Speaker 1: that kind of lackluster clay enclosure is busted. There is 366 00:23:20,920 --> 00:23:26,119 Speaker 1: damage done to the containment site and a couple of 367 00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:28,120 Speaker 1: there are at least a number of barrels that are 368 00:23:28,119 --> 00:23:30,959 Speaker 1: breached at that time. But it's it's again kind of 369 00:23:31,119 --> 00:23:34,760 Speaker 1: seems like a low impact problem. A couple of barrels, 370 00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:37,479 Speaker 1: couple of places where the clay gets breached, and so 371 00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:40,280 Speaker 1: they put the clay back as well. You should say that, 372 00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:43,280 Speaker 1: but they're they're kind of you know, fiddle d d 373 00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:48,280 Speaker 1: they're in a hurry, and uh, no one really talks 374 00:23:48,280 --> 00:23:52,639 Speaker 1: about this Until the late nineteen seventies, which means for 375 00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:56,159 Speaker 1: the better part of two decades, all these chemicals, this 376 00:23:56,440 --> 00:24:01,040 Speaker 1: very very dangerous mixtape stayed in the round, and it 377 00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:07,439 Speaker 1: slowly began to leach into the environment and locals like 378 00:24:07,520 --> 00:24:13,320 Speaker 1: It wasn't until local investigative journalists and concerned citizens started 379 00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:18,400 Speaker 1: going door to door in town saying, Hi, I think 380 00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:23,719 Speaker 1: something's up in in this neighborhood. Do you have you 381 00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:26,480 Speaker 1: or any member of your family, you guys, feeling anything weird? 382 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:30,320 Speaker 1: And the evidence started to add up, at least what 383 00:24:30,359 --> 00:24:34,159 Speaker 1: they saw as evidence. People began to think there was something, 384 00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:38,680 Speaker 1: something more, something dark and sinister to that old canal. Oh, dude, 385 00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:43,280 Speaker 1: I mean this stuff, the fallout I guess no pun intended. Well, 386 00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:47,960 Speaker 1: it's not exactly nuclear, but it's slight well exactly, we'll 387 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:51,640 Speaker 1: get there. But the um, let's just say, the telltale 388 00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:54,320 Speaker 1: signs were about as spooky as they come. You have 389 00:24:54,760 --> 00:24:58,639 Speaker 1: gardens and trees withering and dyeing, this place becoming like 390 00:24:58,680 --> 00:25:04,200 Speaker 1: a you know, cree be maccab wasteland bicycle tires um 391 00:25:04,240 --> 00:25:06,600 Speaker 1: because of the rubber they're made of and the reactions 392 00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:09,640 Speaker 1: they're having with these chemicals. In addition to the souls 393 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:14,440 Speaker 1: of like little kids, shoes started to like melt into 394 00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:19,760 Speaker 1: like these you know, gelatinous noxious pools. Yeah, cool, because 395 00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:23,000 Speaker 1: they're they're puddles of chemicals popping up everywhere. We're we're 396 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:24,720 Speaker 1: getting a little ahead of it right now. We're gonna 397 00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:28,680 Speaker 1: give you all these details here. Um it's it's it's 398 00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:32,720 Speaker 1: really bad. It's really bad. And and the thing that 399 00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:35,719 Speaker 1: really it really, I mean, this thing is such a tragedy. Right, 400 00:25:35,720 --> 00:25:38,280 Speaker 1: we're having some fun, we're doing our thing, we're being lighthearted, 401 00:25:38,840 --> 00:25:44,640 Speaker 1: but it's a problem that was ramping up and causing 402 00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:47,320 Speaker 1: harm unbeknownst to the people who are living on top 403 00:25:47,359 --> 00:25:49,600 Speaker 1: of that canal. Because there were a hundred homes that 404 00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:52,600 Speaker 1: were also built on this land, like right on the 405 00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:55,800 Speaker 1: edges of the land um and it was going from 406 00:25:55,800 --> 00:26:00,080 Speaker 1: the nineteen fifties through the nineteen seventies. There's problem and 407 00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:04,920 Speaker 1: health effects that are just again ramping up, and nobody knew. Yeah, 408 00:26:05,040 --> 00:26:10,280 Speaker 1: weirds were who had left town by the way, skied 409 00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:15,640 Speaker 1: out of uh. Weird smells, strange pools and basements and 410 00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:20,159 Speaker 1: things just ap peering in the soil and yards. City 411 00:26:20,160 --> 00:26:24,800 Speaker 1: officials initially do kind of a lip service investigation, but 412 00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:27,840 Speaker 1: they don't really act, They don't really put energy into 413 00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:32,080 Speaker 1: solving the problem. And at this time, you know, obviously 414 00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:35,639 Speaker 1: decades have passed, so there are new generations of city 415 00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:38,800 Speaker 1: officials who are coming into play, and they may not 416 00:26:39,040 --> 00:26:44,240 Speaker 1: have the full awareness of this faustian bargain that was 417 00:26:44,280 --> 00:26:49,719 Speaker 1: cracked back in the forties. These surveys are you know, 418 00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:54,000 Speaker 1: they're not necessarily methodologically sound at this point, because people 419 00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:57,040 Speaker 1: are self reporting right there, trying to find a correlation, 420 00:26:57,720 --> 00:27:03,640 Speaker 1: and they see patterns of very strange clusters of illness 421 00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:12,159 Speaker 1: and medical conditions epilepsy, asthma, migraines, nefrosis, learning disabilities. It 422 00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:16,440 Speaker 1: seems like they're also hot abnormally high rates of birth 423 00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:22,760 Speaker 1: defects as well as miscarriages, not necessarily throughout Niagara Falls 424 00:27:22,840 --> 00:27:28,880 Speaker 1: the city overall, but particularly in the Love Canal neighborhood. 425 00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:32,359 Speaker 1: And the heroes of this story right now are the 426 00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:38,639 Speaker 1: journalists and these door to door surveyors who are primarily 427 00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:42,800 Speaker 1: like the driving force behind this um this investigation is 428 00:27:42,840 --> 00:27:46,960 Speaker 1: a group of working class women who live in the neighborhood, 429 00:27:47,400 --> 00:27:51,240 Speaker 1: and they are fighting the power in a very real way. 430 00:27:51,400 --> 00:27:54,520 Speaker 1: And if it worked for them, we wouldn't be able 431 00:27:54,560 --> 00:27:57,320 Speaker 1: to tell you the third act of this story, which 432 00:27:57,359 --> 00:28:07,600 Speaker 1: will do after word from our sponsors, and we've returned. 433 00:28:08,240 --> 00:28:10,480 Speaker 1: When talk about heroes in this story, we want to 434 00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:16,160 Speaker 1: give a special thank you to then Congressional aid Bonnie Casper, 435 00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:20,320 Speaker 1: as well as the other people who were working against 436 00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:24,040 Speaker 1: the powers that be to get this acknowledged and to 437 00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:28,680 Speaker 1: get some sort of solution or closure. Things are bad. 438 00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:33,320 Speaker 1: The town looks haunted like Twilight Zone Tails from the 439 00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:35,800 Speaker 1: Dark Side haunted. You would walk in there and you 440 00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:42,960 Speaker 1: would be like, the land is wrong, and it really was, Yeah, yeah, exactly. 441 00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:46,719 Speaker 1: You bury your own Uh. Here's what happened. There were 442 00:28:46,720 --> 00:28:50,200 Speaker 1: a lot of wet winters in the nineties seventies and 443 00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:56,960 Speaker 1: because of this excess water, the water table rose and 444 00:28:57,200 --> 00:29:01,960 Speaker 1: all those chemicals started to lead at an even faster rate. 445 00:29:02,760 --> 00:29:06,720 Speaker 1: They were going through a sewer system that drained into 446 00:29:06,840 --> 00:29:10,200 Speaker 1: nearby creeks, So the water is getting poisoned. It's going 447 00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:13,360 Speaker 1: into basements, is going into yards, it goes into the 448 00:29:13,440 --> 00:29:17,640 Speaker 1: playground of that elementary school built directly over the canal. 449 00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:21,280 Speaker 1: And the people who are raising their hand about this 450 00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:27,040 Speaker 1: are dismissed initially as a bunch of hysterical housewives. They're 451 00:29:27,080 --> 00:29:31,479 Speaker 1: portrayed as like busybodies who have too much time on 452 00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:35,560 Speaker 1: their hands until other investigations begin. Well, think about you're 453 00:29:35,560 --> 00:29:37,840 Speaker 1: talking about twenty five years of that process that been 454 00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:41,280 Speaker 1: described with with you know, wet winters, cold temperatures, rising 455 00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:44,600 Speaker 1: water table, all of that occurring, and to the point 456 00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:47,400 Speaker 1: where you are seeing the residents that are seeing these 457 00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:51,640 Speaker 1: barrels of breach out from that clay like it's hard 458 00:29:51,680 --> 00:29:56,040 Speaker 1: to overestimate how insane that probably felt to be a 459 00:29:56,080 --> 00:29:58,480 Speaker 1: home owner and to have to be sending your child 460 00:29:58,520 --> 00:30:01,720 Speaker 1: to school in this place where this is occurring, where 461 00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:05,200 Speaker 1: it's what is the toxic avenger? No, what's it? What 462 00:30:05,320 --> 00:30:09,000 Speaker 1: is it? Who's the um there's some superhero or comic 463 00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:11,200 Speaker 1: where it was a dude that was made out of 464 00:30:11,240 --> 00:30:16,120 Speaker 1: toxic waste from trauma. Yeah, this is what it feels 465 00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:20,200 Speaker 1: like to me. Yes, yeah, I mean it's almost like 466 00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:23,040 Speaker 1: it's satirical sounding, you know what I mean. This is 467 00:30:23,040 --> 00:30:25,080 Speaker 1: the kind of stuff you think happens in places with 468 00:30:25,160 --> 00:30:28,440 Speaker 1: like zero oversight, where it's just business first, free for all. 469 00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:30,080 Speaker 1: And now that I'm saying that out loud, that sounds 470 00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:32,080 Speaker 1: a hell of a lot like what America is, even 471 00:30:32,120 --> 00:30:34,120 Speaker 1: though there's a semblance of oversight. But again, we have 472 00:30:34,160 --> 00:30:37,320 Speaker 1: to remember this is just in the nascent days of 473 00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:39,440 Speaker 1: the e p A, and a lot of you know, 474 00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:43,200 Speaker 1: stuff was still not known and there was not nearly 475 00:30:43,240 --> 00:30:47,440 Speaker 1: as much oversight and attention paid to the details. So 476 00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:48,960 Speaker 1: a lot of the stuff that we're still dealing with 477 00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:51,720 Speaker 1: today in terms of the super fund sites and clean 478 00:30:51,800 --> 00:30:56,320 Speaker 1: up projects that last decades, if not forever, started in 479 00:30:56,360 --> 00:30:58,680 Speaker 1: those days. It's a good point. I mean, there we're 480 00:30:58,720 --> 00:31:01,920 Speaker 1: a lot of environmental laws before the e p A, 481 00:31:02,440 --> 00:31:05,600 Speaker 1: but they were often ineffective. They were kind of built 482 00:31:05,640 --> 00:31:10,120 Speaker 1: to be toothless. Uh. Now that this results in things 483 00:31:10,160 --> 00:31:16,440 Speaker 1: like intergenerational genetic chromosometal damage. The consequences are real. This 484 00:31:16,640 --> 00:31:20,280 Speaker 1: cover up does have um more to it than just 485 00:31:20,600 --> 00:31:23,120 Speaker 1: selling land for a dollar And just on the birth 486 00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:26,880 Speaker 1: effects tip that you're talking about, then, um, there was 487 00:31:26,920 --> 00:31:30,160 Speaker 1: reporting at the time where there were five known cases 488 00:31:30,360 --> 00:31:34,480 Speaker 1: of birth effects, and Laya's originally reported was often you know, 489 00:31:34,520 --> 00:31:38,120 Speaker 1: there are only five cases of birth effects, but there 490 00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:41,240 Speaker 1: are local residents in particularly the father of one child 491 00:31:41,320 --> 00:31:45,120 Speaker 1: who was born with some some birth effect were just 492 00:31:45,680 --> 00:31:49,320 Speaker 1: it reiterating there are only two hundred and seventies something 493 00:31:49,520 --> 00:31:53,080 Speaker 1: people that live in this area and there are five 494 00:31:53,440 --> 00:31:56,400 Speaker 1: families who have are you know, five instances within those 495 00:31:56,440 --> 00:31:59,040 Speaker 1: two hundred and seventy people, which if you think about 496 00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:03,160 Speaker 1: the e of birth effects, then what that really means 497 00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:05,800 Speaker 1: just how horrifying this is. Yeah, if you think of 498 00:32:05,840 --> 00:32:09,400 Speaker 1: it in percentage right, Yeah, this is Uh, this is 499 00:32:09,400 --> 00:32:13,800 Speaker 1: a very very disturbing ratio. It hits the national sphere 500 00:32:14,400 --> 00:32:19,120 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy eight. Uh, this is where then President 501 00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:23,360 Speaker 1: Jimmy Carter catches wind of what's going on. I've got 502 00:32:23,400 --> 00:32:26,480 Speaker 1: here the very first paragraph of the New York Times 503 00:32:26,600 --> 00:32:31,680 Speaker 1: expose from the front page on August first, twenty five 504 00:32:31,760 --> 00:32:34,280 Speaker 1: years after the Hooker Chemical Company stopped using the Love 505 00:32:34,320 --> 00:32:38,360 Speaker 1: Canal here as an industrial dump. Eighty two different compounds, 506 00:32:38,360 --> 00:32:42,240 Speaker 1: eleven of them suspected carcinogens, have been percolating upwards through 507 00:32:42,280 --> 00:32:46,280 Speaker 1: the soil, their drum containers, rotting and leaching their contents 508 00:32:46,360 --> 00:32:49,560 Speaker 1: into the backyards and basements of a hundred homes and 509 00:32:49,640 --> 00:32:53,600 Speaker 1: a public school built on the banks of the canal. Yeah, 510 00:32:53,760 --> 00:32:56,840 Speaker 1: and that's not hyperbole. There were photographs of the time 511 00:32:56,880 --> 00:33:01,280 Speaker 1: where you would see, you know, corroded decade metal drums 512 00:33:01,320 --> 00:33:05,280 Speaker 1: popping through the soil in people's backyards. This is super bad. 513 00:33:05,320 --> 00:33:07,840 Speaker 1: And I don't mean the comedy film, which was good, 514 00:33:07,880 --> 00:33:12,240 Speaker 1: honestly bears a rewatch they called Boobs Warlocks, which is 515 00:33:12,280 --> 00:33:15,320 Speaker 1: still like one of the coolest lines Jonah Hill ever 516 00:33:15,360 --> 00:33:18,760 Speaker 1: did anyhow. I mean, there's we're having some levity. But 517 00:33:19,120 --> 00:33:23,440 Speaker 1: it's interesting that it's interesting that we're naming so many 518 00:33:23,560 --> 00:33:27,920 Speaker 1: works of fiction like Captain Planet, Toxic Avenger, stuff like that. 519 00:33:28,280 --> 00:33:32,680 Speaker 1: It's based on this story. This story inspired these things, 520 00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:36,920 Speaker 1: this cover up. And there's a journalist we should shout out, 521 00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:40,760 Speaker 1: Eckhartsea Beck. He wrote an article in the e p 522 00:33:40,840 --> 00:33:45,200 Speaker 1: A Journal in nine and it's his account of visiting 523 00:33:45,840 --> 00:33:49,960 Speaker 1: Niagara Falls at this time speaking with residents, and it's harrowing. 524 00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:52,960 Speaker 1: He talks about the trees and gardens all over the 525 00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:56,520 Speaker 1: neighborhood have turning black and dying. He goes by a 526 00:33:56,560 --> 00:33:59,200 Speaker 1: swimming pool that has been entirely popped out of its 527 00:33:59,240 --> 00:34:03,040 Speaker 1: foundation and now it is afloat on a sea of 528 00:34:03,120 --> 00:34:06,040 Speaker 1: chemicals from the ground. The pool is in a pool? 529 00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:08,839 Speaker 1: Is what happened? Not to be too exhibit about it. Yeah, 530 00:34:08,960 --> 00:34:11,319 Speaker 1: And and you know when that's being reported by a 531 00:34:11,360 --> 00:34:15,839 Speaker 1: federal entity like that, people take notice. The Carter administration 532 00:34:15,920 --> 00:34:20,680 Speaker 1: starts paying attention and they decide, you know, everybody collectively 533 00:34:20,719 --> 00:34:23,280 Speaker 1: there who's in charge, decides, okay, we need we should 534 00:34:23,320 --> 00:34:26,239 Speaker 1: probably get the humans out of here. So they begin 535 00:34:26,360 --> 00:34:30,920 Speaker 1: relocating people. And when they initially started, they begin moving 536 00:34:31,560 --> 00:34:36,280 Speaker 1: pregnant women and children first because again there they continue 537 00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:39,400 Speaker 1: to show that the birth effects and the problems that 538 00:34:39,440 --> 00:34:42,560 Speaker 1: are occurring start at a very very young age, both 539 00:34:42,640 --> 00:34:44,799 Speaker 1: within the children and within the mothers who were carrying 540 00:34:44,840 --> 00:34:48,680 Speaker 1: those children. So it was like a you know, lifeboat 541 00:34:48,719 --> 00:34:51,920 Speaker 1: on the Titanic situation. You got the priority ones they 542 00:34:51,920 --> 00:34:53,759 Speaker 1: get to go, and the rest of them are just 543 00:34:53,840 --> 00:34:55,920 Speaker 1: kind of like listening to the orchestra play on the 544 00:34:55,960 --> 00:34:58,600 Speaker 1: deck of a sinking ship. Um. They didn't see it 545 00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:01,760 Speaker 1: that way because they believe government that seven hundred families 546 00:35:02,160 --> 00:35:06,799 Speaker 1: were not of sufficient risk to warrant this expense. We'll 547 00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:08,799 Speaker 1: get to that part in a minute. Um. But the 548 00:35:08,840 --> 00:35:11,759 Speaker 1: testing showed that was conducted by the n y s 549 00:35:11,800 --> 00:35:15,760 Speaker 1: Department of Health, that toxic substances were actually leaching into 550 00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:18,120 Speaker 1: their homes. So I don't know, I don't know how 551 00:35:18,160 --> 00:35:21,360 Speaker 1: much more at risk you can get than that. Um. 552 00:35:21,400 --> 00:35:23,640 Speaker 1: I mean, I know, in a large scale operation like this, 553 00:35:23,760 --> 00:35:26,200 Speaker 1: you kind of have to have certain priorities. But it 554 00:35:26,239 --> 00:35:28,840 Speaker 1: sounds to me just like the government nickel and diming, 555 00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:33,120 Speaker 1: you know, a very dangerous situation. But Carter did relent 556 00:35:33,200 --> 00:35:36,239 Speaker 1: and declared an additional second state of emergency. But it 557 00:35:36,239 --> 00:35:40,839 Speaker 1: wasn't until nineteen eighty one, um after local activists just 558 00:35:40,960 --> 00:35:43,920 Speaker 1: you know, continued to bang the drum. Uh, and eventually 559 00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:47,400 Speaker 1: the remaining families were located at a cost of seventeen 560 00:35:47,440 --> 00:35:51,160 Speaker 1: million dollars all in UM, which with inflation today would 561 00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:53,719 Speaker 1: be about fifty four million dollars, which is no small 562 00:35:53,800 --> 00:35:56,520 Speaker 1: chunk had change. But my question is is the chemical 563 00:35:56,560 --> 00:35:58,520 Speaker 1: company on the hook for any of this or does 564 00:35:58,560 --> 00:36:01,239 Speaker 1: that stick years and years of class action lawsuits for 565 00:36:01,280 --> 00:36:03,399 Speaker 1: any of that to come to fruition. There's no hook 566 00:36:03,480 --> 00:36:08,640 Speaker 1: for the Hooker because of that legal transaction they made. Yeah, 567 00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:14,480 Speaker 1: that was gonna a dollar and one caveats. Yes them, 568 00:36:14,560 --> 00:36:17,960 Speaker 1: I mean the people like the school, not the company. 569 00:36:18,080 --> 00:36:21,239 Speaker 1: You know they they were playing the long game there, right. 570 00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:24,520 Speaker 1: Spoiler alert. No one goes to jail. Let's talk a 571 00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:27,759 Speaker 1: little bit about you know that that rarely happens. It 572 00:36:27,800 --> 00:36:31,200 Speaker 1: would be very rare for um, you know, the head 573 00:36:31,239 --> 00:36:34,239 Speaker 1: of a company responsible for these activities to see the 574 00:36:34,280 --> 00:36:37,160 Speaker 1: inside of a prison unless they were messing with the money. 575 00:36:37,520 --> 00:36:40,560 Speaker 1: Shout out Black Monday murders. Please read it if you haven't. 576 00:36:40,840 --> 00:36:47,200 Speaker 1: So the canal that gets capped again, it's fenced off, 577 00:36:48,160 --> 00:36:51,560 Speaker 1: the buildings around it are torn down, let no stones 578 00:36:51,680 --> 00:36:57,719 Speaker 1: stand on another. And there's this long series of legal processes. Eventually, 579 00:36:58,880 --> 00:37:01,760 Speaker 1: the first thing that happened is legally, is that thirteen 580 00:37:01,920 --> 00:37:04,719 Speaker 1: hundred people who used to live in Love Canal at 581 00:37:04,760 --> 00:37:08,399 Speaker 1: some point agreed to a twenty million dollar settlement with 582 00:37:09,520 --> 00:37:13,200 Speaker 1: the successor of the Hooker Chemical Company, a place called 583 00:37:13,239 --> 00:37:17,879 Speaker 1: Occidental Chemical Corporation, which took over a Hooker in the 584 00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:21,600 Speaker 1: nineteen sixties, and they also settled with the city of 585 00:37:21,719 --> 00:37:25,720 Speaker 1: Niagara Falls, New York. The clean up continues. We're talking 586 00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:31,320 Speaker 1: thirty years of just trying to make this less worse. 587 00:37:31,880 --> 00:37:35,400 Speaker 1: New York State in the nineties says, okay, we're done. 588 00:37:35,960 --> 00:37:38,840 Speaker 1: Some parts of the canal are safe to live in again. 589 00:37:39,800 --> 00:37:43,560 Speaker 1: They renamed the area and saw Black Creek Village. That's 590 00:37:43,600 --> 00:37:46,280 Speaker 1: the first name they went with, and they started auctioning 591 00:37:46,320 --> 00:37:51,840 Speaker 1: off houses there. But the legal processes continue because the 592 00:37:51,880 --> 00:37:57,560 Speaker 1: contamination is still there. And then you know, years later, 593 00:37:57,600 --> 00:38:03,919 Speaker 1: in ninety four, the same chemical company previously Hooker, now Occidental, 594 00:38:04,320 --> 00:38:07,319 Speaker 1: they agreed to pay nine eight million to New York 595 00:38:07,440 --> 00:38:11,360 Speaker 1: State as a way of as a way of making 596 00:38:11,440 --> 00:38:15,080 Speaker 1: up for the problems that they're dumping created. Right, so 597 00:38:16,080 --> 00:38:19,799 Speaker 1: million New York gets to begin cleaning the place up. 598 00:38:20,320 --> 00:38:24,799 Speaker 1: And the next year they're like, okay, yeah, now we're 599 00:38:24,800 --> 00:38:28,040 Speaker 1: gonna Now we're gonna settle with the Feds, the Federal boys, 600 00:38:28,920 --> 00:38:32,120 Speaker 1: for the same actions that we took, and this time 601 00:38:32,200 --> 00:38:35,200 Speaker 1: it will be a hundred and twenty nine million dollars. 602 00:38:35,760 --> 00:38:38,200 Speaker 1: So that one dollar price tag that they you know, 603 00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:41,239 Speaker 1: sold that thing for is looking not so great at 604 00:38:41,239 --> 00:38:48,760 Speaker 1: this point. Yeah, that's the that's the kicker. These stories 605 00:38:48,840 --> 00:38:52,040 Speaker 1: continue after the headlines are gone, you know what I mean. 606 00:38:52,400 --> 00:38:57,640 Speaker 1: And in some ways there's a happy ending, right because 607 00:38:57,719 --> 00:39:01,400 Speaker 1: justice was done. But no, no amount of money can 608 00:39:01,440 --> 00:39:06,759 Speaker 1: reverse these medical conditions, right and uh, no amount of 609 00:39:06,800 --> 00:39:11,000 Speaker 1: money can give people that part of their lives back. 610 00:39:11,960 --> 00:39:15,080 Speaker 1: But there's something bigger about the Love Canal. There's there's 611 00:39:15,080 --> 00:39:20,759 Speaker 1: a reason that we find this and illuminating conspiracy. It 612 00:39:20,880 --> 00:39:23,239 Speaker 1: is a parable, that's what you can see it as that. 613 00:39:23,239 --> 00:39:25,680 Speaker 1: That's what we how we introduced it in the beginning. 614 00:39:26,080 --> 00:39:30,080 Speaker 1: But it's not a parable just about one company in 615 00:39:30,239 --> 00:39:32,799 Speaker 1: a small town in New York State. It's about the 616 00:39:32,880 --> 00:39:36,320 Speaker 1: long term dangers at play here, both with chemical waste 617 00:39:36,320 --> 00:39:41,279 Speaker 1: and corporate cover ups. This became a rallying point for 618 00:39:41,360 --> 00:39:45,360 Speaker 1: a lot of people. It symbolized the looming environmental disaster 619 00:39:45,760 --> 00:39:51,319 Speaker 1: represented by untold numbers of toxic waste sites across the 620 00:39:51,400 --> 00:39:56,040 Speaker 1: United States. And you can see that legislators and activists 621 00:39:56,360 --> 00:40:00,520 Speaker 1: have cited Love Canal when they're trying to a deal 622 00:40:00,680 --> 00:40:05,760 Speaker 1: with problems like this in their own neck of the woods. 623 00:40:05,400 --> 00:40:10,759 Speaker 1: It actually this situation the fallout from that or the aftermath, 624 00:40:10,800 --> 00:40:14,120 Speaker 1: I should say, is one of the big driving forces 625 00:40:14,560 --> 00:40:21,160 Speaker 1: behind the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, which 626 00:40:21,520 --> 00:40:24,720 Speaker 1: the street name for that is super fun and super 627 00:40:24,760 --> 00:40:29,479 Speaker 1: fun sites are essentially Uncle Sam saying, who this is bad? 628 00:40:29,920 --> 00:40:35,200 Speaker 1: We something must be done right, and uh, you know, 629 00:40:35,280 --> 00:40:38,520 Speaker 1: we've got I think we've got experience with super fun sites. 630 00:40:38,880 --> 00:40:40,640 Speaker 1: You know, I think you reported on some back in 631 00:40:40,680 --> 00:40:43,400 Speaker 1: the day. Maybe, um, is that correct? Yeah? Yeah. When 632 00:40:43,400 --> 00:40:45,879 Speaker 1: I was at GPB or George Public Broadcasting, my beat 633 00:40:46,000 --> 00:40:48,360 Speaker 1: was the nuclear industry because I was really close to 634 00:40:48,480 --> 00:40:51,920 Speaker 1: Plant vogel Um and Savannah River site, which is considered 635 00:40:51,920 --> 00:40:54,080 Speaker 1: a super fun site. But we always kind of joked 636 00:40:54,080 --> 00:40:57,440 Speaker 1: around in the newsroom that that term just makes it 637 00:40:57,480 --> 00:41:00,640 Speaker 1: sound like a playground or something. It's a super fun site, 638 00:41:00,800 --> 00:41:03,920 Speaker 1: you know, let's go hang out there and uh, you know, 639 00:41:04,600 --> 00:41:07,080 Speaker 1: let's talk about let's talk about something we haven't mentioned 640 00:41:07,080 --> 00:41:11,960 Speaker 1: with this site yet, and that is this dumping site 641 00:41:12,360 --> 00:41:16,680 Speaker 1: may have also been at least in some way radioactive 642 00:41:17,080 --> 00:41:20,760 Speaker 1: because the U. S. Army in that time period between 643 00:41:20,800 --> 00:41:25,960 Speaker 1: the nineteen or in the nineteen forties, right before and 644 00:41:26,040 --> 00:41:29,840 Speaker 1: probably during the time that Hooker chemical company owned the area. 645 00:41:30,440 --> 00:41:34,360 Speaker 1: UH the U. S. Army was dumping chemicals and waste 646 00:41:34,719 --> 00:41:39,040 Speaker 1: from the Manhattan Project from from the United States efforts 647 00:41:39,040 --> 00:41:42,440 Speaker 1: to build nuclear weapons. It was it's known, it's reported 648 00:41:42,440 --> 00:41:45,160 Speaker 1: on in several places here throughout this story that the U. S. 649 00:41:45,239 --> 00:41:49,040 Speaker 1: Army was actively dumping stuff there. So who knows what 650 00:41:49,200 --> 00:41:53,680 Speaker 1: else was underneath there that we just will never know, 651 00:41:54,000 --> 00:41:57,319 Speaker 1: right And the thing is, during the Manhattan Project, the 652 00:41:57,360 --> 00:42:00,320 Speaker 1: contents of that dumping would have been and outter of 653 00:42:00,440 --> 00:42:04,040 Speaker 1: national security, so it wouldn't really have been reported. But 654 00:42:04,560 --> 00:42:07,000 Speaker 1: if you want to learn more about super funds, I 655 00:42:07,040 --> 00:42:10,440 Speaker 1: would recommend checking out stuff. You should know. They've got 656 00:42:10,440 --> 00:42:12,760 Speaker 1: a great episode on this. It's one of their older ones. 657 00:42:13,239 --> 00:42:16,600 Speaker 1: It holds up. I think that's a great entry point there. 658 00:42:17,400 --> 00:42:21,160 Speaker 1: This cover up also helped give birth to a related 659 00:42:21,280 --> 00:42:26,080 Speaker 1: series of conspiracies, the militant environmental movements in the US 660 00:42:26,200 --> 00:42:28,680 Speaker 1: and abroad. If you want to learn more about that, 661 00:42:28,800 --> 00:42:32,560 Speaker 1: check out our earlier episode on the so called eco terrorists. 662 00:42:32,960 --> 00:42:35,359 Speaker 1: That is a loaded term, so let's just be clear 663 00:42:35,400 --> 00:42:39,400 Speaker 1: about that. And where we end here is this you 664 00:42:39,480 --> 00:42:42,319 Speaker 1: have to wonder what else is out there? As we 665 00:42:42,360 --> 00:42:47,080 Speaker 1: record today, it is statistically certain that there are more 666 00:42:47,200 --> 00:42:51,480 Speaker 1: love canals somewhere in the United States. They're improperly maintained, 667 00:42:51,600 --> 00:42:54,400 Speaker 1: or they've been neglected, they may have been compromised, they 668 00:42:54,440 --> 00:42:57,400 Speaker 1: may have been completely abandoned, and they may be largely 669 00:42:57,480 --> 00:43:01,959 Speaker 1: forgotten by the folks who are living in these sites today. 670 00:43:02,000 --> 00:43:03,640 Speaker 1: This is something that's going to hit home for a 671 00:43:03,680 --> 00:43:06,160 Speaker 1: lot of people, unfortunately. You can learn more about love 672 00:43:06,200 --> 00:43:09,280 Speaker 1: canal in the book Paradise Falls, written by a journalist 673 00:43:09,360 --> 00:43:16,440 Speaker 1: named Keith O'Brien. He focuses on the ninety six period, 674 00:43:16,560 --> 00:43:20,840 Speaker 1: so it's very very specific focus, but he builds he 675 00:43:20,880 --> 00:43:23,520 Speaker 1: builds a case for problems to come in the future. 676 00:43:23,719 --> 00:43:26,759 Speaker 1: Right now, you know, we can say this cover up 677 00:43:26,760 --> 00:43:29,680 Speaker 1: has been proven. People try to make it right. But 678 00:43:29,800 --> 00:43:32,440 Speaker 1: read your local history, check that water in your basement, 679 00:43:32,840 --> 00:43:36,839 Speaker 1: be safe. Let us know what you think is there 680 00:43:36,960 --> 00:43:40,120 Speaker 1: is there a story like this that's being under reported 681 00:43:40,480 --> 00:43:43,080 Speaker 1: where you live in the US or abroad. Please be 682 00:43:43,160 --> 00:43:47,600 Speaker 1: aware if your child comes home with melted shoes, my god. 683 00:43:48,160 --> 00:43:52,319 Speaker 1: And just to continue calling out Keith O'Brien as an 684 00:43:52,320 --> 00:43:55,640 Speaker 1: awesome person, He also wrote an article for Politico that 685 00:43:55,680 --> 00:43:58,880 Speaker 1: you can read right now titled how a determined congressional 686 00:43:58,920 --> 00:44:01,680 Speaker 1: aid helped break up in the biggest environmental scandal in 687 00:44:01,800 --> 00:44:06,319 Speaker 1: US history. Worth your time. Yes, and while you're online, 688 00:44:06,480 --> 00:44:08,160 Speaker 1: if you have a story like this from your neck 689 00:44:08,160 --> 00:44:10,640 Speaker 1: of the Global Woods, we'd love to hear from you. 690 00:44:10,800 --> 00:44:13,360 Speaker 1: We try to be easy to find. It's right. You 691 00:44:13,360 --> 00:44:16,720 Speaker 1: can find us online where we have a Facebook group 692 00:44:16,760 --> 00:44:18,919 Speaker 1: called Here's Where It Gets Crazy. Check that one out 693 00:44:18,960 --> 00:44:23,160 Speaker 1: for sure for memorie galore and good conversation with good 694 00:44:23,160 --> 00:44:26,560 Speaker 1: folks about the episodes on this very show. You can 695 00:44:26,600 --> 00:44:31,280 Speaker 1: also find us on Twitter and YouTube under the handle 696 00:44:31,360 --> 00:44:36,239 Speaker 1: Conspiracy Stuff on Instagram or Conspiracy Stuff Show. Yes, and 697 00:44:36,320 --> 00:44:40,480 Speaker 1: if you liked this story a historical version of something 698 00:44:40,600 --> 00:44:45,000 Speaker 1: terrible happening when a private corporation and the government, you know, 699 00:44:45,080 --> 00:44:47,960 Speaker 1: work together and mess something up your you might like 700 00:44:48,000 --> 00:44:49,799 Speaker 1: our book Stuff They don't want you to know. You 701 00:44:49,840 --> 00:44:52,640 Speaker 1: can preorder it right now all the places you can 702 00:44:52,640 --> 00:44:54,880 Speaker 1: pre order. It comes out in October, butus your pre 703 00:44:54,960 --> 00:44:57,880 Speaker 1: order now. You'll get it then and you'll know that 704 00:44:57,920 --> 00:45:01,520 Speaker 1: it's coming, so it'll be exciting you get it. And 705 00:45:01,640 --> 00:45:06,040 Speaker 1: uh and then Illumination Global Unlimited will renew our blood 706 00:45:06,040 --> 00:45:14,160 Speaker 1: contract for another seven years. Oh yeah, wait, did you not? 707 00:45:14,719 --> 00:45:16,200 Speaker 1: You just signed it when they gave it to you, 708 00:45:16,320 --> 00:45:19,800 Speaker 1: and you got to negotiate, so I'm a blind signer. 709 00:45:20,040 --> 00:45:22,640 Speaker 1: I just they just had such nice suits. They do 710 00:45:22,640 --> 00:45:25,319 Speaker 1: have very nice I will say that. I say which 711 00:45:25,360 --> 00:45:29,080 Speaker 1: will about them. They have nice suits. Giant eyeball shaped heads, 712 00:45:29,120 --> 00:45:31,600 Speaker 1: which is a little weird with deep figures. You know, 713 00:45:33,840 --> 00:45:39,000 Speaker 1: it looks kind of interesting. Comments ryeball guys, no comments. 714 00:45:39,040 --> 00:45:40,719 Speaker 1: But if you have a comment and you don't like 715 00:45:40,760 --> 00:45:43,520 Speaker 1: social media, there is another way to get in contact 716 00:45:43,560 --> 00:45:47,080 Speaker 1: with us. We have a phone number. Just pick up, 717 00:45:47,480 --> 00:45:50,279 Speaker 1: pick up your telephonic device, hit us up at one 718 00:45:50,480 --> 00:45:53,640 Speaker 1: eight three three std w y t K. You'll hear 719 00:45:53,680 --> 00:45:56,239 Speaker 1: a hopefully familiar voice. You'll hear a beat. Let you 720 00:45:56,239 --> 00:45:58,600 Speaker 1: know you're in the right place. You've got three minutes. 721 00:45:58,640 --> 00:46:02,680 Speaker 1: Those three minutes are yours. Go wild, go nuts it is, 722 00:46:03,160 --> 00:46:06,160 Speaker 1: you know, treat it like the landfill for your crazy ideas. 723 00:46:06,239 --> 00:46:09,080 Speaker 1: Three minutes worth, and let us know what's on your mind. 724 00:46:09,160 --> 00:46:13,080 Speaker 1: Give yourself a cool nickname. Also, the second most important thing, 725 00:46:13,760 --> 00:46:15,840 Speaker 1: give us let us know if we have permission to 726 00:46:15,920 --> 00:46:19,239 Speaker 1: use your name and or voice on air. Most important thing. 727 00:46:19,520 --> 00:46:22,759 Speaker 1: Don't edit yourself. Don't feel like you know I have 728 00:46:22,800 --> 00:46:25,200 Speaker 1: a ten minutes story, but I only have three minutes 729 00:46:25,239 --> 00:46:28,000 Speaker 1: to talk. You have all the time in the world. 730 00:46:28,280 --> 00:46:30,480 Speaker 1: You can send us a good old fashioned email. We 731 00:46:30,600 --> 00:46:33,440 Speaker 1: love those because they come with links. You can send pictures. 732 00:46:33,680 --> 00:46:36,160 Speaker 1: Take us to the entrance of that rabbit hole. We 733 00:46:36,200 --> 00:46:39,279 Speaker 1: read every single email we get. Where we are conspiracy 734 00:46:39,280 --> 00:46:59,960 Speaker 1: at i heart radio dot com. Stuff they don't want 735 00:47:00,000 --> 00:47:02,640 Speaker 1: you to know is a production of I heart Radio. 736 00:47:02,680 --> 00:47:04,960 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i 737 00:47:05,000 --> 00:47:07,920 Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 738 00:47:07,960 --> 00:47:08,760 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.