''The Killing Ground'' is a 1979 American

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

written by

Brit Hume Alexander Britton Hume (born June 22, 1943), known professionally as Brit Hume, is an American journalist and political commentator. Hume had a 23-year career with ABC News, where he contributed to ''World News Tonight with Peter Jennings'', ''N ...

. The film portrays environmental and human health effects of toxic waste dump-sites in Niagara Falls, New York and other locations. It was nominated for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

for Best Documentary Feature.

Synopsis

The film surveys several waste disposal sites in the United States.

Love Canal, New York

The documentary begins with the environmental disaster at

Love Canal Love Canal is a neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York, United States, infamous as the location of a landfill that became the site of an enormous environmental disaster in the 1970s. Decades of dumping toxic chemicals harmed the health of hund ...

Niagara Falls, New York Niagara Falls is a City (New York), city in Niagara County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city had a total population of 48,671. It is adjacent to the Niagara River, across from the city of Niagara ...

Governor of New York The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has ...

Hugh Carey Hugh Leo Carey (April 11, 1919 – August 7, 2011) was an American politician and attorney. He was a seven-term U.S. representative from 1961 to 1974 and the 51st governor of New York from 1975 to 1982. He was a member of the Democratic Party. ...

provided $10 million in funding for residents nearest the canal to leave. The state purchased the houses of some residents. The film features commentary on pollutant-linked

birth defect A birth defect, also known as a congenital disorder, is an abnormal condition that is present at birth regardless of its cause. Birth defects may result in disabilities that may be physical, intellectual, or developmental. The disabilities can ...

s by Dr. Beverly Paigen of the Roswell Park Institute (now the

Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is a cancer research and treatment center located in Buffalo, New York. Founded by surgeon Roswell Park in 1898, the center was the first in the United States to specifically focus on cancer research. The ...

). Dr. Paigen collected statistics of diseases near Love Canal. Of 187 households still occupied near Love Canal, she documented "17

nervous breakdown A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

s, 34

miscarriage Miscarriage, also known in medical terms as a spontaneous abortion and pregnancy loss, is the death of an embryo or fetus before it is able to survive independently. Miscarriage before 6 weeks of gestation is defined by ESHRE as biochemical lo ...

s, 20

s, 41 cases of

respiratory disease Respiratory diseases, or lung diseases, are pathology, pathological conditions affecting the organs and tissues that make gas exchange difficult in Breathing, air-breathing animals. They include conditions of the respiratory tract including the t ...

, and 3

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

s, all well above the national average." Dr. David Axelrod, former

health commissioner Local boards or local boards of health were local authorities in urban areas of England and Wales from 1848 to 1894. They were formed in response to cholera epidemics and were given powers to control sewers, clean the streets, regulate environmenta ...

of New York, then expanded the evacuations to include households with small children or pregnant women. The film alleges that

Hooker Chemical Company Hooker Chemical Company (or Hooker Electrochemical Company) was an American firm producing chloralkali products from 1903 to 1968. In 1922, bought the S. Wander & Sons Company to sell lye and chlorinated lime. The company became notorious in t ...

"never warned the state that

dioxin Dioxin may refer to: * 1,2-Dioxin or 1,4-Dioxin, two unsaturated heterocyclic 6-membered rings where two carbon atoms have been replaced by oxygen atoms, giving the molecular formula C4H4O2 *Dibenzo-1,4-dioxin, the parent compound also known as ...

was in the canal." In response, Bruce Davis, executive vice president of Hooker Chemical Company, states that "the quantity of dioxin that was located in that entire large canal site was a very, very low quantity." However, a review of Hooker Chemical documents, obtained by

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

, shows a list titled "Types of Waste Category" that appears to state which chemicals were dumped, and directly contradicts some statements by Davis. The film also reveals compromising statements by a Hooker Chemical employee, John Gibson. Love Canal residents sued Hooker Chemical for "billions of dollars" in damages.

New Jersey

Kin-Buc landfill

applied the

Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request: * Freedom of Information Act 1982, the Australian act * ...

to obtain footage from a 1976 United States government film showing trucks dumping "raw chemical waste" at

Kin-Buc Landfill The Kin-Buc Landfill is a Superfund site located in Edison, New Jersey where of liquid toxic waste and 1 million tons of solid waste were dumped. It was active from the late 1940s to 1976. It was ordered closed in 1977. Cleanup operations have b ...

near

Edison, New Jersey Edison is a township located in Middlesex County,in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated in Central New Jersey within the core of the state's Raritan Valley region, Edison is a commercial hub, home to Menlo Park Mall and Little India. It is ...

. Kin-Buc was allegedly subject to "frequent fires, which sent noxious smoke over the surrounding community." The film further shows that the nearby

Raritan River Raritan River is a major river of New Jersey. Its Drainage basin, watershed drains much of the mountainous area of the central part of the state, emptying into the Raritan Bay on the Atlantic Ocean. History Geologists assert that the lower Rar ...

has been contaminated by

PCBs Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are highly carcinogenic chemical compounds, formerly used in industrial and consumer products, whose production was banned in the United States by the Toxic Substances Control Act in 1979 and internationally by t ...

chloroform Chloroform, or trichloromethane, is an organic compound with chemical formula, formula Carbon, CHydrogen, HChlorine, Cl3 and a common organic solvent. It is a colorless, strong-smelling, dense liquid produced on a large scale as a precursor to ...

benzene Benzene is an organic chemical compound with the molecular formula C6H6. The benzene molecule is composed of six carbon atoms joined in a planar ring with one hydrogen atom attached to each. Because it contains only carbon and hydrogen atoms, ...

, and

mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...

. However, due to the shutdown of Kin-Buc, there were no legal

toxic waste dump Hazardous waste is waste that has substantial or potential threats to public health or the environment. Hazardous waste is a type of dangerous goods. They usually have one or more of the following hazardous traits: ignitability, reactivity, co ...

s available to direct new waste to, nor to use for cleaning up Kin-Buc.

Illegal dumping

The film investigates illegal "midnight dumping" practices near the

New Jersey Turnpike The New Jersey Turnpike (NJTP) is a system of controlled-access highways in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The turnpike is maintained by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA).The Garden State Parkway, although maintained by NJTA, is not consi ...

. One tactic involved stealing trucks, filling it with toxic waste barrels for payment, then abandoning the truck. The film alleges that one firm, Chemical Control Company (CCC), "simply unloaded drums into New Jersey's Meadowlands, pumped waste directly out of tank trucks into waterways, and mixed it with soil at the foot of a street so that seemingly harmless dirt could go to an ordinary garbage dump." The head of CCC, William Carracino, was facing two years in jail for illegal dumping when he gave an interview for the film. Carracino commented:

"Well, I'd say maybe 80 percent of most of the waste shipped is being dumped illegal. The economics behind it is, is if you don't have to treat it, there's no cost except transportation, and if you can get 20 and 30 dollars a drum for a chemical, and you can take it from a customer or a generator and carry it direct to a landfill or site, and dump it on the ground and bury it."

When asked about the amount of money that can be made, Carracino responded:

"Millions. You can go out and rent a piece of property. Don't buy it. Rent it. Rent ten acres, rent twenty acres. Get a permit to handle drums. Bring them onto the property, and just store em. As soon as the heat gets too great, just go bankrupt and get out. There's no law against it."

Carracino's Chemical Control Company remained on New Jersey's list of recommended waste disposal companies even after it was convicted of illegal dumping. A New Jersey chemical waste regulator was interviewed about CCC's tactics. Afterwards, the New Jersey Attorney General obtained a court order to close CCC. In addition, the documentary follows a truck from New Jersey that allegedly dumps concealed barrels of

carbolic acid Phenol (also called carbolic acid) is an aromatic organic compound with the molecular formula . It is a white crystalline solid that is volatile. The molecule consists of a phenyl group () bonded to a hydroxy group (). Mildly acidic, it requir ...

at a household dump in Pennsylvania. Footage filmed by

WNEP-TV WNEP-TV (channel 16) is a television station licensed to Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States, serving as the ABC affiliate for Northeastern Pennsylvania. Owned by Tegna Inc., the station maintains studios on Montage Mountain Road in Moosic. Th ...

shows the dumping operation. Elsewhere, in the

New Jersey Meadowlands New Jersey Meadowlands, also known as the Hackensack Meadowlands after the primary river flowing through it, is a general name for the large ecosystem of wetlands in northeastern New Jersey in the United States, a few miles to the west of N ...

, the improperly stored

waste of a former factory led to "the highest level of mercury contamination in the world."

Student protests

Elsewhere, students in

Bordentown, New Jersey Bordentown is a city in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 3,924.SCA Services, Incorporated. SCA had already been fined for illegally dumping chemicals at a household dump in Bordentown.

demonstrated via

SEC filing The SEC filing is a financial statement or other formal document submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Public companies, certain insiders, and broker-dealers are required to make regular SEC filings. Investors and financi ...

s that SCA and the company that owns

had a partnership. Afterwards, SCA was included as a defendant in a lawsuit brought against the owners of Kin-Buc.

Louisiana

Petro Processors of Louisiana was a waste disposal company that served the petrochemical plants along the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

, including

Exxon ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, ...

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard ou ...

, Allied Chemical & Dye Company, and

Dow Chemical Company The Dow Chemical Company, officially Dow Inc., is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. The company is among the three largest chemical producers in the world. Dow manufactures plastic ...

. However, a Petro dumpsite overflowed, "flooding 500 acres with waste", including

carbon tetrachloride Carbon tetrachloride, also known by many other names (such as tetrachloromethane, also IUPAC nomenclature of inorganic chemistry, recognised by the IUPAC, carbon tet in the cleaning industry, Halon-104 in firefighting, and Refrigerant-10 in HVAC ...

and

hexachlorobutadiene Hexachlorobutadiene, Cl2C=C(Cl)C(Cl)=CCl2, is a colorless liquid at room temperature that has an odor similar to that of turpentine. It is a chlorinated aliphatic diene with niche applications but is most commonly used as a solvent for other chlo ...

. The film includes an interview with

Louisiana Governor The governor of Louisiana (french: Gouverneur de la Louisiane) is the head of state and head of government of the U.S. state of Louisiana. The governor is the head of the executive branch of Louisiana's state government and is charged with enfor ...

Edwin Edwards Edwin Washington Edwards (August 7, 1927 – July 12, 2021) was an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who served as the U.S. representative for from 1965 to 1972 and as the 50th governor of Louisiana for four terms (1972– ...

, who said he was "close to the industrial complex because of its effect on the economy."

"We've made tradeoffs, accommodations, or compromises, if you will, taking the position that the need for jobs and industrial development and stimulation to our economy justified the temporary tradeoffs, and in some instances, some serious tradeoffs, where the environment became totally or partially damaged, and in some instances permanently."

"None of us, as far as I know, who are in positions of authority in the state apologize for that. We did what we thought was best for the people and the economy of Louisiana. We accommodated the industry where we thought we could, in order to get the jobs and the development, and in some instances we knowingly and advisedly accepted environmental tradeoffs."

Columbus Millet, resident of Bayou Sorrel, Louisiana, said that residents would occasionally wake up "choking" due to noxious air. Waste was supposedly being disposed via

injection well An injection well is a device that places fluid deep underground into porous rock formations, such as sandstone or limestone, or into or below the shallow soil layer. The fluid may be water, wastewater, brine (salt water), or water mixed with indus ...

, but was instead illegally dumped in open pits. A disposal worker died of

asphyxiation Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects primarily the tissues and organs. There are many circumstances that can i ...

after adding new waste into the pits, causing a

chemical reaction A chemical reaction is a process that leads to the IUPAC nomenclature for organic transformations, chemical transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. Classically, chemical reactions encompass changes that only involve the pos ...

Michigan

Montague, Michigan Montague is a city in Muskegon County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,361 at the 2010 census. The city is located within Montague Township, but is politically independent. The Montague ZIP code 49437 also serves all of Mon ...

, a Hooker Chemical plant allegedly caused "the worst environmental disaster in Michigan's history". Warren Dobson, former Hooker employee turned

whistleblower A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...

, gives an interview.

Superfund

The film briefly mentions the attempts to pass the law that would become the

Superfund Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the United States Environmental Pro ...

. William Sanjour, branch chief of waste reduction within the

United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...

, alleged that "the

Carter Carter(s), or Carter's, Tha Carter, or The Carter(s), may refer to: Geography United States * Carter, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Carter, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Carter, Montana, a census-designated place * Carter, ...

] administration doesn't want to implement this [Superfund] law," and that the agency has been "systematically suppressing" environmental regulations. An

EPA The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...

program administrator commented:

The
Carter administration Jimmy Carter's tenure as the 39th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20, 1977, and ended on January 20, 1981. A Democrat from Georgia, Carter took office after defeating incumbent Republican President ...
's number one policy, as explained to us by top management, is to fight inflation. So, finding more sites where people are being poisoned, could contribute, in their mind, to their fight against inflation.

Future Superfund sites

A number of the polluted sites mentioned in the film became

sites after the documentary was published. *

Shakopee, Minnesota Shakopee ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Scott County, Minnesota, United States. It is located southwest of Minneapolis. Sited on the south bank bend of the Minnesota River, Shakopee and nearby suburbs comprise the southwest portion of ...

Lowell, Massachusetts Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, in the United States. Alongside Cambridge, It is one of two traditional seats of Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in 2020, it was the fifth most populous city in Massachusetts as of ...

Valley of the Drums The Valley of the Drums is a 23-acre (9.3 hectare) toxic waste site near Brooks in northern Bullitt County, Kentucky, near Louisville, named after the waste-containing drums strewn across the area. After it had been collecting waste since the 19 ...

Bullitt County, Kentucky Bullitt County is a county located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 82,217. Its county seat is Shepherdsville. The county was founded in 1796. Located just south of the city ...

near

; also affecting nearby

* Bayou Sorrel, Louisiana *

Bordentown, New Jersey Bordentown is a city in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 3,924.Montague, Michigan Montague is a city in Muskegon County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,361 at the 2010 census. The city is located within Montague Township, but is politically independent. The Montague ZIP code 49437 also serves all of Mon ...

, near

White Lake Township, Michigan White Lake Charter Township is a charter township of Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Together with its two unincorporated communities, the township makes up part of the Detroit metropolitan area outskirts. As of the 2010 census, the ...

* Bloody Run Creek dump in

Hyde Park, New York Hyde Park is a town in Dutchess County, New York, United States, bordering the Hudson River north of Poughkeepsie. Within the town are the hamlets of Hyde Park, East Park, Staatsburg, and Haviland. Hyde Park is known as the hometown of Frankl ...

Bridgeport, New Jersey Bridgeport is a census-designated place{ (CDP) and unincorporated community that is part of Logan Township, in Gloucester County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. At the 2020 United States census, the population of the CDP was 389. in the 20 ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Killing Ground, The 1979 films American documentary films Documentary films about environmental issues 1979 documentary films 1970s English-language films 1970s American films Love Canal