All language subtitles for What.Lies.Upstream.2017.720p.WEBRip.x264-[YTS.AM]

[light electronic music]

[crickets chirp]

[light instrumental music]

[light instrumental music]

- [Man] Yes, sir.

- Just pull down here.

[light instrumental music]

- [Cullen] West Virginia
was in the midst

of the largest drinking water
crisis in recent US history.

National news had been
covering the chaos,

but no one knew why
this had happened.

- President Obama approved
a disaster declaration

for West Virginia.

Nine counties are dealing
with a chemical spill

that contaminated
the water supply.

- Roughly 300,000
people in West Virginia

have been without tap water.

- [Reporter] The rush for
water was immediate.

After that sold out, so
did juice, soft drinks,

anything liquid, leaving
customers scrambling for ice.

- [Reporter] What
are you gonna do

about showering or
cleaning or bathing?

- Well, honey, you
gonna melt this down.

That's what you gonna do.

Like you did back
in them old days.

Put 'em in a little tub.

Put 'em in there, and
just take a, you know,

like a birdbath.

- [Reporter] 700 people
in the Charleston area

have called poison
control centers.

- The smell was so strong

that we had to actually
cover our faces up.

- I think there should be
a thorough investigation

of what happened and why
this incident happened

at Freedom Industries.

[computer keys click]

[light instrumental music]

- I'd say if they knew more
about the chemical itself,

that's probably what's
got so many people

scared to death now.

Nobody knows that much about it.

The water company people, you'd
think they coulda figured

out what's safe, what's not
safe, before they fired them

intakes up and polluted
every water line

throughout the valley.

Yeah, you're coming up on it.

It's got a hole
rusted through it.

See, they've got all this
containment boom in here.

That's probably where it was
breaking outta the wall.

You'd think these people
woulda cared more

and do more visual inspections
to prevent something

like this from ever happening.

They knew the water company
was just down the road.

It'll probably take 'em months,
but they'll cut all them

tanks up and haul it to scrap,
make one big field out of it.

As long as it's settin' there,

the people is gonna remember it.

And that's the main thing.

They want it all to go away.

- We've had the daughter
to the hospital.

She had a severe rash, and
her neck started to swell,

and it doubled in size.

Is this your first
trip to Charleston?

- I haven't been to
Charleston before,

but I used to come to West
Virginia when I was a kid.

We had family here, my uncle.

He passed away when I was 10.

I haven't been back here since,
but I remember loving it.

He taught me how to
shoot a bow and arrow,

and played in streams.

It was kind of a novelty,
being from California.

We don't get a lot of water.

I still can't believe
you guys lived so close

to Freedom Industries.

You mind if we go up there?

- Sure, we can go, if you like.

- [Cullen] Oh, there you
go, there's the smell.

- Yeah, you smell
that now, do ya?

- [Cullen] Whoa.

- This is a detergent for coal.

The chemical that leaked out.

But you know, this is really
just a drop in the bucket

because we live in
chemical valley.

You know, have you
heard that term yet?

- What?

Oh shit, I totally forgot.

It seemed that within
the chemical valley,

Freedom Industries was a
relatively small company.

Their primary
business was buying,

selling, and mixing chemicals.

They hadn't talked
to any reporters

since their last press
conference the.

- Our intent is to be totally...

- [Reporter] Stay in
front of the microphone.

- Oh, okay.
- Look at us.

- Okay.

- [Reporter] Are there
no systems in place

to alert you of a leak at your
facility other than a smell?

- At this moment in time,

I think that's all we have time
for, so thanks for coming.

Thanks for your time.

- Woah, woah, woah.
- We have more questions.

Hey, hey, hey.

- [Cullen] It was a PR disaster,
and it had a pronounced

effect on the people
I spoke to in town.

So, if this was a
whodunit mystery...

- There's no whodunit.

Freedom Industries did it.

They are the sole culprit.

- [Cullen] So if this happens
again in the future,

we would say that that other
company was the sole culprit?

- Most certainly.

Who are you gonna blame?

- It's just unconscionable that
Freedom Industry could not

have known about the leak,
did not report the leak,

and did not know how much
the leak had happened.

It's unconscionable to me.

My outrage and everybody
else's outrage should be that.

- [Cullen] The water company
and state officials

waited more than six hours
before informing the public.

But ultimately, they
had little choice.

The smell demanded
an explanation.

- [Attorney] Regarding the
Freedom Industry site,

we will not be
making any comments.

Nor will it be permitting
access to the site.

- [Cullen] It didn't
require an engineer to see

that the tanks and walls
were falling apart.

But why was an
industrial facility

even allowed to get this bad?

Was the story of Freedom
Industries just a distraction?

- We have enough
regulations on the books,

and what the administration
oughta be doing

is actually doing their jobs.

Why wasn't this plant
inspected since 1991?

I am entirely confident that
there are ample regulations

already on the books
to protect the health

and safety of the
American people.

Somebody ought to be
held accountable here.

- Well, a lot has
been made over,

well, DEP, you haven't
been to the site since '92

or maybe you've only been
two times in the 2000s.

And right, wrong, or
indifferent, simply visiting

those sites would not have
prevented this problem.

- [Cullen] The DEP, or
Department of Environmental.

Protection, regulates all of
the industry in the state.

They're essentially the
environmental policemen.

Randy Huffman, he's
in charge of it,

and he plays a major
role in this story.

Let's say, in the
instance of Freedom,

you had gone and
inspected the tanks.

What would that have revealed?

- We would've probably walked
the site, looked for the

obvious, evidence of material
leaking from the tanks,

visible holes in the
secondary containment.

- [Cullen] But there
were visible holes.

- I, I, I,

it's unfortunate, you
know, assigning, trying,

the blame is on Freedom.

The blame is on the
company for having tanks

that were not up to
any kind of standard.

I mean, [laughs] I'm reluctant
to say this on camera.

I joked to somebody about
this the other day.

It takes cigarettes 30
or 40 years to kill ya.

I can't imagine that, you
know, a couple days of MCHM,

well, but, that's not even,
I just say that in jest

because it's not
fair for me to say.

I'm not a health professional.

- Hey, this is Dr. Gupta
from the Health Department.

So, there is very
limited information

on this chemical to begin with.

We're seeing people
are suffering on the

I don't have a lot to
offer them right now.

They have faith in me,
and that's the reason

they are calling me.

You sent me an email
about somebody calling

about their 97-year-old
grandmother?

- [Cullen] Dr. Gupta runs the
local health department.

He also turns out
to be the other

major player in this story.

For some reason, he
was the only official

who seemed concerned
that this chemical

might have negative
health effects.

- I'm not keeping any
registry at this point,

and the reason for that is that

we're not getting a lot of
support from a lot of people.

Resistance from
people who don't want

to know what's going on.

Obviously, the folks at
state and federal level

are so strongly convinced
that there are going

to be no long term
impacts of this.

I have not yet
found the evidence

on which they've based their,
such strong convictions upon.

[wind whistles]

[computer keys click]

[light instrumental music]

- [Reporter] Spell your name
for me and your correct title.

- Laura Jordan,
L-A-U-R-A J-O-R-D-A-N.

External Affairs Manager for
West Virginia American Water.

- [Reporter] Is the water safe?

- Yes.

The water is safe to drink.

[light instrumental music]

- I want to issue a challenge
to all the experts

and officials that are
testing our water

and tellin' us it's safe.

Whatever they're tellin'
us to do with the water,

you do it first, and
I'll be happy to follow.

- It still smells like licorice.

I just poured this this morning
straight from the tap.

- [Cullen] Even though the
water still had an odor,

officials were saying it was
saying it was safe for use.

- I want help for my daughter
that's sick from this.

- [Cullen] This was
thanks to a determination

that had been made by the CDC
or Centers for Disease Control

who said that one part of
MCHM per one millions parts

of water or one PPM
was okay to drink.

This is the equivalent of
squeezing one drop of MCHM

into a 10 gallon fish tank.

But here's what's strange.

Only a few days later,
they issued a statement

advising pregnant women
to find an alternate

drinking water source due to a
limited availability of data.

[light instrumental music]

- I'm not saying
the water's safe.

They're saying the water's safe.

The water company's
saying the water is safe.

The CDC is saying
the water is safe.

When people shower or use
the water other ways,

they're having self-reported
associations with rashes,

eye irritations, asthma attacks.

We should be more
forthright and say,

we cannot tell you if this is
not related to the chemical,

but we're sure gonna find out.

- [Cullen] With its
15 million customers,

American Water is the biggest
private water company

in the United States.

And their Charleston operation
services the largest area

on the East Coast, more
than 2,500 square miles.

And water here is some of the
most expensive in the country.

But looking around, neither
of these facts made any sense

because water was everywhere.

Why were people paying
so much money to pump

water halfway across the
state from a single source?

- [Woman] Get out of that water.

I ain't tellin' you no more.

- I've been drinkin' it since
they lifted the do not use,

but nobody else in
the household will.

We're supposed to trust
these people to provide us

with clean, safe drinking water.

Then we got a creek right
here that just had 108

gallons of slurry go down it.

I'm all for coal.

I'm 100% for coal,
100% against Obama.

I guess in a lot of ways I'm
just fed up with things

happenin' around here, but I
can't go nowhere 'cause I don't

know how to do anything
other than mine coal.

[dogs bark]

- You used to never
have a problem.

Then they put mines up here,
mines up here and stuff,

and all that sludge and
whatever they use.

- Slurry.

- Even into the aquifer
it's dripping,

and then for years they
said, oh it smells funny.

But it's okay to drink it.

Half the people in this trailer
park died from cancer.

That's why they changed

all these.
- And the well ain't no good.

To city water.
- To city water and the next

thing you know,
well, we're gettin'

contaminated freakin' water.

[light instrumental music]

- Even your clothes
will look like that.

[light instrumental music]

- This is what come
out of the spigot.

[water runs]

- I guess the water started
back with the coal mines,

which was about a mile
down the road here,

which my grandfather worked in.

And my dad worked in it,
and I worked in it.

The mines has done good
up until just recently.

You start lookin' back
at some of the things

that's happenin' to you
or to other people,

and the sickness
that's goin' on.

When I wake up in the morning,
I think if I'm still living.

I think it's a great day.

[water runs]

[kids yell]

- [Cullen] Besides coal, the
other big industry here

is chemical, and it was still
unclear if the industry

at large had played a
role in this crisis.

[door knocks]

- You guys want some water?

Chemical alley is about a
25 mile stretch of the.

Kanawha River that
has tons of chemical

manufacturing facilities on it.

For your all's knowledge, people
see cameras, and they think

they kind of like, job security.

So some people are friendly
and welcoming of it,

but a lot of people aren't
because it gets bad publicity.

The plant's gonna shut
down, and they're not

gonna be able to
feed their kids.

That's where the
coal-fired power plant is

that they have for
that facility.

This is where they dump
all the toxic stuff,

and actually for a long
time they didn't know

what Union Carbide dumped.

And I know this because
I worked there.

When I was 16-years-old,
there was an explosion

at the Methomyl-Larvin
unit in Institute.

I tried to like tape up the
windows and doors of my house

like they told us to do in
school, and by that time

I was already exposed,
so that incident

kind of just changed my life.

Okay.

[computer keys click]

- [Reporter] We are
learning new information

about the second substance
found in the West Virginia

chemical spill,
the chemical PPH.

- I know that many of you
here would like an update

on the new material that
was found yesterday.

Part of my team here from DEP.

- Governor, thank you for...

- On the day of the spill,
when we asked the question,

what's in the tank, the
question that we asked

should have revealed
this as well.

- [Cullen] By this, Randy means
that what actually spilled

was a mixture of
chemicals, and 5.6% of it

was this other
chemical called PPH.

Imagine that this
beverage is what spilled,

and they didn't find
the lemon juice.

Both state and federal
regulators were doing testing.

How had this gone undetected?

- Mike might be able to
answer the test results.

- I just haven't seen the
most recent test results.

- [Cullen] So did
Freedom Industries

have any records about PPH?

- Well, they had their in
document that what they were

shipping in and shipping out,
but it was pretty rough.

They also had three
tanks of this material,

and they were shipping
in between tanks.

- [Cullen] Why did the DEP allow
them to operate like this?

So is your background in
environmental science

or anything like that?

- I came out of college with
a mining engineering degree.

There were no jobs in the
mining industry at the time.

This was the mid '80s.

I came to work for what was
the Department of Energy

at the time in state
government as a last resort.

We could regulate CO2 out of
existence in this country,

and it's not going to have any
measurable impact globally.

[light instrumental music]

- [Cullen] Looking through
the archives, Randy Huffman,

he had the kind of report card

that you hide from your parents.

Loosening regulations, turning
a blind eye to thousands

of miles of dirty streams,
granting pollution waivers.

The DEP had even gone so far
as to sue their federal

counterpart, the Environmental
Protection Agency when the

federal agency tried to
enforce the clean water act.

"This is 100% victory.

"We won," said Randy Huffman.

For a while, it was reported
that the DEP simply

didn't review the waster
water pollution reports

of companies around the state.

These added up to over
25,000 violations

of the Clean Water Act.

"For whatever reason, we
weren't getting it done,."

Huffman said, "It was a
glitch, and they got"

"off track with it."

25,000.

- I believe in the
production of coal,

it's value to our country,
and I will continue

to do everything that I
can to fight the EPA

and its misguided attempts
to cripple this industry.

[audience applauds]

- [Cullen] After reviewing
some of the past.

State of the State addresses
given by the governor,

it seems that fighting
environmental regulation,

well, that was something
that brought Democrats

and Republicans together.

And this is how the
states Democratic.

US Senator won his seat.

- I'm Joe Manchin.

I sued EPA, and I'll take dead
aim at the Cap and Trade Bill

because it's bad
for West Virginia.

- [Cullen] It seemed that the
EPA's proposed emissions

program was also bad
for his coal business,

a business that had
earned him millions.

Now, at that time, he was
the state's governor,

and here's what Joe
Manchin did right

at the beginning of his term.

- The first official new sign
of West Virginia's progress

started going up
today, which shows

the true beauty
of West Virginia.

[audience applauds]

- [Cullen] It's a little hard
to read, but he actually

changed the slogan of the
state to Open for Business.

So I asked a retired
employee from the DEP

if this translated into
weaker enforcement.

- Yes, Joe Manchin, in
my opinion, did initiate

a more lax environmental
enforcement atmosphere

while he was in office and even
it seems even until today.

- [Cullen] Joe Manchin had
appointed Randy Huffman

nearly 10 years ago, and it
seemed he was still doing

the exact job that
he'd been hired to do.

- They tell us all it's the flu.

It's not the water at all.

It's somethin' else, and
they send us home like this.

And then you know, we go
home and sit there and cry.

And it's wrong how
they're doin' us.

- It's not the hospital's
job to make sure they ask

questions every time
somebody comes with a rash.

They're too busy for that.

Their job's not surveillance.

We need a program that will
actually encourage people

to come in, describe
their symptoms.

That needs to be followed
over several years.

That's the way you
prove connections,

the chemical and other things.

Two weeks ago.

It should have been done.

- You know, I'm not
interested in writing tickets

or assessing fines.

I don't need to collect money
from people just because.

Give the benefit of the
doubt to organizations,

and assume people aren't
out there trying to break

the law, but they
would like to comply.

And give 'em a shot at it.

- Do you though, that
like that ideology lets

companies like Freedom
through the cracks?

- No, I don't.

- Maybe you can correct this.

In the five years before
2008, something like 25,000

violations of the Clean
Water Act occurred,

but you know, fines
were never issued.

- Ah, yeah, 35,000
is not that many.

So I'll say that.

This is a whole lot more
complicated than something

that you can just put in a sound
bite and say, here's 35,000

violations for which there
never was a penalty.

[computer keys click]

- [Cullen] Nearly three
weeks had gone by,

and yet for some reason, the
water still had a smell.

So people didn't trust it.

And they also didn't trust the
state or federal officials

who were saying that the
water was safe to drink.

- It's three weeks.

We haven't been told anything.

- You're trying to force feed
us underneath the table.

- Is this water safe for him?

- Purging is not working.

- [Cullen] American Water
didn't even bother to show up.

There was only one official
there to take all of the heat.

- What kind of inspection?

How often do you do it?

Do you do it every month,
every year, once a week.

- [Cullen] It was hard
to tell if Randy Huffman

was playing dumb or he
really didn't know anything.

- I'm not aware of any
full spectrum testing

that's been done.

I wouldn't make any
judgments on that at all.

No evidence that we've seen.

I'm just not aware of 'em.

I'm sure it'll reveal
something we didn't know.

I apologize, but I'm not
familiar with the protocols

at all that the water company
used to do their sampling.

- [Man] I have a question.

- Freedom's been ordered
to remove the tanks.

No, there will not be another
tank farm on that site.

- [Man] Nobody else is gonna be there.
[audience applauds]

- We need to understand
the basics of this.

We are the first human
beings this chemical

has ever been experimented on.

It's tested on rats and some
of the other lab animals.

I vehemently disagree with
any official anywhere

who's saying well, this is
flu, or this is something else

'cause it's not.
[audience applauds]

- Don't let anyone
around you convince you

that you don't see and
you aren't experiencing

what you're experiencing.

Dr. Gupta has really stepped
up, and I have yet in 22 years

of work seen a health official
do that, so thank you.

- We're working closely
with the legislature

on some specific rules.

- Here's the thing.

Regulation without
enforcement is pointless.

[audience applauds]

- It was brutal.

It might have been
the worst experience

that I've had in this job.

The police escorted me to
my truck 'cause they were

concerned [laughs]
for my safety.

I wasn't, but they were.

I think they just
wanted somethin' to do.

- [Cullen] While Randy and his
agency may be responsible

for a lot of problems
in the state,

as it turns out, the
inspection of above ground

storage tanks
wasn't one of them.

- I could send inspectors
to that site every day.

I'm not gonna know that
that hole is gettin' ready

to rust the rest of the way
through and leak the material.

What we need to
prevent this problem

is something that we don't have.

Some kind of policy
decision by Congress

or by our state legislatures
at some point was made.

- [Cullen] One thing
was for sure.

The politicians didn't
want any of this blame

coming back to them.

I've heard there's a lot
of political corruption

and that lobbyists wield
a lot of influence here.

- That would be more so
in Washington than here.

The idea of regulation as
in ensuring the safety

of storage tanks, we always
assumed that that was in place.

That's the type of
regulation everyone wants.

- [Cullen] But when it
came to making this law,

Chris also had a little
extra motivation.

- I mean, I've been
drinking all day.

I had just gotten out of the
shower right before our date.

I thought about the baby
and what was gonna happen.

He used to take 45 minute showers.
[laughs]

- [Chris] I used to get clean.
[laughs]

- I don't feel comfortable
with my biggest organ

being exposed to somethin'
that they know nothing about.

I don't feel comfortable with
my daughter's or my husband's.

- [Cullen] Across the
state, there was a contest

to determine the best
drinking water in the world.

I wanted to see how this
water that had been declared

safe for use stacked up
against the competition.

- This isn't Charleston water?

- You tell me.

- It's really incredible.

I mean, it's like a big
bottle of licorice.

On odor I would score
it as low as I could.

The people who test this say
it's acceptable to drink?

Is that right?
- That's what they say.

- Let me smell it again
because that's atrocious.

Oh.

- I would love to give you our
Beverly Hills 90H20 water,

the first sommelier crafted
water in the world.

- Is this crafted by you?

- Yes.

- I tried to get
it entered here,

but they wouldn't accept it.

- Too bad.

The first, oh, my
grandmother always said,

and she survived two world
wars, when water has an odor,

don't drink it.

This has.

- I will tell you this is the
best trade I've ever made.

- Yeah, I think so, too, yeah.
[laughs]

I think so, too.

And I will trade this with a trash can.
[laughs]

[computer keys click]

- [Joe] Everyone's upset
about their water bill.

You know that, right?

- [Jeff] I know they are.

- [Joe] Can you at
least give us a break?

- You can smell
MCHM in water below

the protective health limit.

As a water company...

- How are you sleeping?

- I'm sleepin' great.

- Give the people in this
valley some confidence.

- We have to follow
what's given to us

as health-based guidance.

It is a fear-based issue
because people can smell it.

- I'm understanding that
not one of you up here

are willing to say
unequivocally, it's safe,

and I would assume
that you would have

to have zero parts per
billion, trillion, no nothing.

- We monitor for 100
contaminants at various times

throughout the year, and if
anyone thinks that every

water treatment system has
absolutely zero of all

of these chemicals or
compounds, they're mistaken.

There are limits set.

[flag whips]

[light instrumental music]

- Water utilities simply
don't have the information

on how to remove 50,000
chemicals in the water.

- Right.

- So the Environmental
Protection Action

sets those standards.

There's little
information available.

That's just surprising to me,
which is why we got involved.

I'm not here to convince
you the water is safe.

I'm here to figure out if it is.

- [Cullen] Dr. Andy
Whelton had just arrived

with a team of students.

He's an independent scientist
and a water protection

strategist who used to
work in the military.

- There's simply not a
lot of data associated

with what chemicals are in
waterways and water sources.

- [Cullen] In fact, the EPA
only requires water companies

to test for 76 chemicals,
and since MCHM wasn't

on this list, it was legal
for it to be in the water.

But MCHM has an
extremely rare quality.

You can smell it in
parts per billion.

It's like putting
one drop of MCHM

into a 10,000 gallon fish tank.

- In the drinking water
industry, we're looking

for that one device that
can tell us everything.

Because it doesn't
exist, we have to rely

on multiple devices to
tell us a little bit

of information about the
water that we're looking at.

- [Cullen] But aren't
there more than 80,000

chemicals used in commerce?

- Right, and because they...

- [Cullen] So you're saying
there's no way to test for them?

- There is no tri-quarter
to determine which of the

80,000 chemicals is present.

Because there was an
odor, that was exactly

how it was detected.

- [Cullen] So imagine, without
the smell, the chemical

would have gone unnoticed.

People would have drank
MCHM without knowing.

- [Man] Just insist on
leaving your complaint

and your intent not to pay.

- [Cullen] The CDC would
never have had to determine

that one part per
million was safe.

- A lot of things just
didn't make sense.

How did the CDC come up
with the screening levels?

- [Governor] We all
have the same question.

Is my water really safe?

I value and trust the opinions
of the CDC and the EPA.

- Thank you very much, Governor.

Is your water safe?

What I can say is that
you can use your water

however you like.

- We had expected them to come
in, and ease people's fears.

Instead, they just threw a
little gasoline on the fire.

- There are no studies on
humans for this substance.

- After the water use
ban has been lifted,

if we're still smelling the
water in the way we are,

there is some amount
of chemical somewhere.

- The CDC has set a
screening level.

Doesn't mean there is
potentially zero in there.

- You know, they gave us
a one part per million.

Then they came to
town and wouldn't say

that it was safe to drink.

The Centers for Disease
Control everybody relies on.

And at that point, everybody
was sort of dumbfounded.

- [Cullen] So for some
reason the most important

health agency in the entire
world was no longer willing

to use the word, safe.

- In refusing to declare the
water safe, I think we're

setting ourselves up in
the future for something

that we may not be proud of.

[light instrumental music]

- This is an
independent project.

We're pleased to have you,
and we appreciate your help.

Dr. Whelton.

- As far as the testing
phase, we go out tomorrow.

- [Cullen] Dr. Whelton went
from working on his own dime

to working for the governor.

It was now his job to do
what the CDC could not.

[light instrumental music]

Eastman Chemical, they
make about nine billion

dollars every year.

They're the original
creator of MCHM,

which means they're required
to create a Safety Data Sheet.

Tells you all these
symptoms it affects.

It's the only information
that's available

to the public and to
emergency responders.

- The people in my world,
that's what we rely on.

We go out on a truck
wreck or something,

and there's a tank leaking, we
gotta look at a data sheet.

That's all we have.

- [Cullen] But if you look
at a data sheet for MCHM,

nearly every field reads
no data available

including most important
symptoms and effects.

However, there was one
useful piece of information,

the average amount of MCHM
it takes to kill a rat.

- Any time you talk about
what levels are safe

for people to expose
to, that's a big deal.

- [Cullen] But how the CDC
determined what amount

was acceptable is
kind of shocking.

[light instrumental music]

Without knowing if MCHM causes
cancer or reproductive harm

the CDC decided what
amount was safe

from this piece of information,
how much Eastman Chemical

says it takes to kill a rat.

This would explain why the
CDC told pregnant women

not to drink the water.

It seemed that they didn't know
what the effects might be.

- These are studies that
are done in secrecy.

They're not available
to the public

or the regulators to review.

- Companies have had trade
secrets for as long

as they've been in business
so that the competition

wouldn't have access
to their information.

- [Cullen] But you
don't have to look far

to find an example.

According to the Safety Data
Sheet of PPH, the second

chemical on the spill, it's
identity was withheld as a trade

secret, but this is
actually the norm.

There's a government
accountability report

that revealed 95% of
new chemicals contain

some information claimed
as confidential.

95%.

But MCHM was no longer
confidential because Eastman.

Chemical had released
the studies.

At least one thing stood out.

There was a note from
a lead researcher.

It said that their
first study of MCHM

had bad rats, so the results
were of limited value.

And the rats had exhibited
something called hematuria.

It turns out the rats
were peeing blood.

Was it normal to blame
undesirable results on the rats?

What what do you mean?

So you're a lawyer.

Who are you suing?

- Everybody.

The clinical finding
in the lab notes

that was never put in any report

was not that there
was just hematuria

but that in some of the rats,
the blood was actually

green that was in the urine.

- Where was this study
because I didn't see it?

- Well, you couldn't find
that by looking at the study.

You'd have to sue Eastman
and get into the discovery

process and then get
their lab notes.

[light instrumental music]

[water splashes]

- [Cullen] Are you
looking for a spot?

- Yeah, let's go.

Hold onto your everything here.

[engine revs]

[light instrumental music]

Here you go.

People joke with
me all the time.

They know that I fish,
and they'll say, oh,

you catch any three-eyed
fish out there?

Oh, you catch some deformed
ones every once in a while,

but fish are just like people.

- [Cullen] Any time I'm in
this area, there's always

that like sweet smell.

Can you smell it?

- Yeah.

I forget what they
make down there.

- [Cullen] But they're
permitted to dump a certain

amount in here, right?

That's how it works?

- Yeah, they're
permitted to dump

a certain amount
of certain things.

You know, I don't know.

No, they test their outfalls.

They test what's in the
outfalls, and then they report

that to us once a quarter.

That's a good question.

How do I know if they're
tellin' the truth?

We've never, ever had
that kind of problem

'cause they typically
will contract that out

to a third party to come
in and do the sampling,

and then prepare the report.

We'll look at their reports.

- [Cullen] Later that night,
I went to the EPA's website

to see how many
facilities his agency

had actually inspected.

Only 11, less than any other
state, but while I was here

I saw something
that surprised me.

There were huge numbers of
violations in every state.

The national average for
facilities dumping more

than they're
supposed to was 38%.

West Virginia was actually
below the national average.

The Clean Water Act
requires a fine of not less

than 2,500 dollars or
more than 25,000 dollars

per day of violation, so
how much are companies

actually being fined in total?

Here's the average total
fine in West Virginia.

California was the highest.

But in many states, the
fine wasn't even above

the required daily minimum
of 2,500 dollars.

In Illinois, the fine is
less than a parking ticket.

It made sense why weak
enforcement might be happening

in West Virginia, but
I couldn't understand

why it seemed to be
happening everywhere else.

- It's not a giant, but it's fish.
[laughs]

[light instrumental music]

[computer keys click]

- [Cullen] It was the last day
of the legislative calendar,

and they were holding a
vote on what was now

colloquially known
as the tank bill.

If it passed, it would
be the strongest piece

of environmental legislation
the state had seen

in a generation.

[light instrumental music]

- Environmental pollution's
really not a problem

when it doesn't affect you,
but what happens if it does?

- This sounds like a
real fiimby issue.

- What's fiimby?

- [beeps] it's in my back yard.
[audience laughs]

- Concerned citizens comin'
to the capitol to voice

their opinion on the water
situation in Charleston.

Well, I was told [laughs]
I wasn't allowed to sit

on the floor, so
I'm gonna sit up

in the gallery with the people.

- 59 days since our
water was poisoned.

This is the exclamation
point on the end

of our success in dealing with
the water crisis this year.

- The question now is
on passage of the bill.

All those in favor
will vote green.

All those opposed will vote red.

Prepare the machine.

[dings]

[light instrumental music]

- [Cullen] Near the
stroke of midnight,

the tank bill
passed unanimously.

[audience applauds]

Incredibly, West Virginia had
just become the first state

to enact this type of a law.

[audience applauds]

- [Chris] It was
down to the wire,

but the process isn't done.

It is for this
legislative session,

but there's next year as well.

- It now goes from
words to actual work

that my department has to do.

So there are a lot
of tanks out there,

and there's a lot of stuff in
this bill that has to be done.

No.

[computer keys click]

- Before I have
questions, but today,

based on the evidence,
the information,

the chemical levels
of people's homes,

the water is safe to drink.

- [Cullen] The water
no longer had a smell,

and Dr. Whelton made his
announcement to an empty room.

[light instrumental music]

It was fall of 20014, and the
DEP had finished inspecting

storage tanks across the state.

They found 1,100 were
in such bad shape,

they had to be decommissioned.

1,100.

Was it this bad
around the country?

Maybe unregulated chemicals
had been spilling

with regularity, chemicals
that you couldn't smell,

and if that's the case,
then Freedom Industries

was just horribly unlucky.

[light instrumental music]

- [Reporter] Four former Freedom
officers have been indicted

by a federal grand jury.

It's alleged the defendants
violated the Clean Water Act.

- [Reporter] According to
the FBI, Southern lied

about his role with the company

prior to being named president.

He now faces 30 years in prison.

[engine revs]

- Dr. Gupta.

- [Dr. Gupta] Hey, how are ya?

- It had been a full
year since the crisis.

Congratulations
on your new role.

- Thank you very much.

- Dr. Gupta was now
in charge of health

for the entire state.

Now, does this mean you're
part of state government?

- Yeah [laughs] yes.

- [Cullen] What's that like?

Things seemed good,
almost better than good.

That is until I sat him
down for his interview.

Something was off.

- Of course, we've had since
multiple developments,

positive developments, and
I think we've been able

to strengthen a number of
things across in the state.

We're working to further
strengthen over the next year

or two many more things
that we have been even over

and above, on top of prior
what we've done before.

- [Cullen] Perhaps he
couldn't speak freely

because there was a government
handler in the room.

Right, right.

You're not completely
under the control of...

- There you go.

- The powers that be.

- There you go.

- Andy, I'm sorry.

What exactly are you
trying to say about MCHM?

Does that mean that
MCHM is twice as toxic

as what Eastman reported?

That throws the whole
system into question.

If the science was this
wrong with one chemical,

science that's usually
confidential,

what were the odds that
companies were fabricating

safety data on a
far larger scale?

And how are they
getting away with it?

- The water doesn't smell
like licorice anymore.

And people have resumed
their normal lives.

Lobbyists have had a year
to really plot and plan.

They were very, very
quiet last year,

and that was strategic.

- [Cullen] Perhaps this meant
that there was an opportunity

to see who really controls
chemical policies

and the safety of water.

So what's up with the tank bill?

- So a year goes by.

Now, people are saying
well, maybe we should

go back and revisit it.

It basically undoes all
that was done last year,

and it makes any kind of
a regulatory framework

for tanks irrelevant
and meaningless.

- Who are the groups then
that are behind this?

- Nobody wants their
name on the bill.

You can almost figure
it out when you look

at the legislation and see
who benefits most from it.

That tells you a lot.

The bill specifically said
just because your oil

and gas related means
you're exempt.

There was no other scientific
research behind it.

- Do you think that
what happened last year

changed you at all?

- Yeah, I think so.

It changed not just me,
maybe it was just me.

Maybe my perspective
is what's changed,

but it got some people at the
table, citizen activists.

Their idea is not to change
this philosophical change

in the world, but it's about
dealing with practical

issues such as keeping
your water clean.

Yes, sir.

Yes, sir.

1:15, I'll see you up there.

You guys just missed the
governor walking out.

- Do you mind taking
a camera with you?

Then you just hit
this on the side.

- And it videos.

- [Cullen] There had been a
massive train derailment.

At least 18 tankers had
spilled oil into the river.

It seemed like a bad time to
try to undo last year's bill.

So my understanding is that
there is an effort to remove

at least 99% of all the tanks
from needing to be inspected.

- There's such a huge influx
of so many lobbyist groups

behind individual members.

Until I learn more about it, I
can't speak to what the bill

completely will do, but
it doesn't look good.

- [Cullen] The lobbyists
hovered around

the center of the capitol.

Are you guys oil and gas,
or are you something else?

- I'm city.

- You are filming us right now.

Hi.

You can cut it
please, thank you.

- I represent a series of
businesses, oil and gas,

manufacturing, larger employers.

- [Cullen] So were you
involved in drafting

the legislation at all?

- No.

- [Cullen] Who would that be?

- That's a great question.

And I have not seen
her here today.

- [Cullen] Even the Democratic
Senator who created

the original tank bill was now
supporting the gutting of it.

I read through the piece of
legislation that there's

no third party inspection.

There's no anything.

- You assume that everybody
are telling the truth,

but every once in a while,
the IRS will audit you.

- If I cheat on my
taxes, 300,000 people.

- So this was a bill that was
introduced by industry folks.

- [Cullen] Speaking
of industry folks,

what did Rebecca
Randolph send you?

- Oh, I don't know.

You can have it.

- 100 years of the West
Virginia Manufacturer's,

oh, Swiss chocolates.

- [John] Oh, that's nice.

- Aren't they the most
powerful of all the lobbyists?

- Private Coal Association
also has a lot of say.

- Any way you need to contact
her, it's right here.

Maybe I'll keep this one.

The derailment had forced
American Water to shut down

one of its treatment plants.

It refused all of my
interview requests,

so it was a rare
opportunity to find out

their stance on these changes.

- I think that any attempts
right now to try to weaken

water protections, especially
with events like this

and last year's event being
so fresh in people's mind,

I can't imagine anyone
being on board with that.

- [Cullen] The Manufacturers'
Association is a coalition

of businesses who lobby for
their shared interests.

It includes chemical companies
like DuPont, Dow, and Bayer.

But there was one name on
this list I didn't expect.

It seemed that the water
company was putting their

bottom line before the safety
of their only product.

[light instrumental music]

You have a new job.

You have nine other
people working for you,

and the stakes are really
high, so in you're

in a very different
political environment.

But why not try and
protect this regulation?

- There's plenty of folks
out there that can do that.

I cannot afford to do it.

Here's my responsibility
and my role,

and I intend to fully do that.

It's very important that we
keep scientific evidence

in front and center of
every policy-making

and not go in reverse
because that's exactly

what some of the times the
other side is trying to do.

- We've got a lab just had to
shut down because they had

a lab person admit to
fabricating results,

fabricating the same analytical
data you're talking about

that they're supposed
to self report.

They were doing tests for
a lot of coal companies

and other folks.

I don't know who
the ones were for

that they actually fabricated.

I don't know the
specifics on that.

But the bottom line it
doesn't matter is it brings

into question the integrity
of the whole operation.

- So you gonna run for
governor in two years.

- I'm gonna run from the
capitol, not to the capitol.

- [Cullen] I was trying to find

Rebecca Randolph
obviously today.

She wasn't in.

Do you think she'll
be in tomorrow?

- [Randy] There's a
bill up at two o'clock.

- [Cullen] Like a
stakeholder's meeting?

- [Randy] Yeah, I know
she'll be here for that.

- So right behind me in
the corner over there

a stakeholders
meeting is going on.

And I don't know who
all's involved in this,

but we've been told that Rebecca
from the Manufacturer's.

Association is there
along with anyone

who is considered a
stakeholder to the state.

[light instrumental music]

I'm just gonna go in.

[light instrumental music]

- So it's similar to the
language on page 18,

but a little bit different.

- [Cullen] I
couldn't believe it.

Every major lobbying
group was in that room

rewriting the tank
bill in front of me.

- I mean, I hear everyone
on how they're already

regulated and maybe
that's good enough.

What else could have been
done to minimize the risk

in the Freedom thing and
to me, it goes back

to certification and
inspection process.

- What's wrong?

I mean, where do you
guys see the issue

with what we're already
covering though?

- Had that been going on
for some period of time,

years, that leak
would've never happened.

- [Cullen] Randy seemed
to be putting up

a pretty good fight.

- The more hazardous
or dangerous it is,

then it needs to be
included in level one.

- We don't think that's
workable for us.

- We're already covered under

adequate stringent regulations.

- That's not gonna work, guys.

I'm just tellin' y'all.

We'll go back to a
groundwork for an exemption

to coal mining operation
and individual.

- [Lobbyist] I think we've
done all the damage

we can do today.

[laughs]

- [Cullen] There you have it.

That's a how a law is
weakened beyond recognition.

But where had these changes
come from in the first place?

Rebecca?

Hi, Cullen Hoback.

- Oh, hi.

- I've been trying to
get a hold of you.

Were you relevant in terms
of crafting the bill itself?

- I mean, we had some input.

Candidly what I'm gonna
tell you on camera,

I mean, is that our folks
will be the first ones

to get in line to
do what's necessary

when considering
protection of the resource

that we're trying to protect.

- Are you going to work
to change the bill

from its current form to
make it so it covers more

of the tanks that are out there?

'Cause like right now it just
literally undoes last year.

- I don't, I think we'll have
to agree to disagree on that.

[laughs]

- [Cullen] It was once again
the last day of session,

and they were about to vote
on changing the tank bill.

[dings]

The bill had been undone
with little fanfare.

Another Freedom Industries
was primed to happen again.

Senator Hall?

- Yes.

- [Cullen] Are you the
lead sponsor on SB423?

- Yes, I was.

- Did you write the bill, or...

- No, I didn't write.

I mean, the attorneys wrote it.

- [Cullen] Whose
attorneys wrote it?

- Well, shoot, I
mean, it was done,

I can't even tell ya.

The Manufacturer's
Association, I don't know.

I don't know who did it.

- But surely someone came
to you with the bill,

and they said, would you be
the lead sponsor on this?

- People from the
Manufacturer's Association did.

What's your interest in
knowing who gave me the bill?

- Well, I've just been
following the water crisis

from the beginning.

- Okay.

- And so because the bill...

- Well, let me tell you
what I tell people.

Somebody else got a
speeding ticket,

and everybody else got a fine.

That's the way I view it.

That's it.

You know, it just
gave an opportunity

for people to come in and
just cause all sorts

of regulatory problems for
us that weren't necessary.

So I'm happy 473 passed.

I'm glad my name is on the top.

- It's not a bad bill.

It's a good bill.

- [Cullen] The guy didn't
even know the number

of his own bill.

It's 423, not 473.

Maybe it's because he
didn't write the bill.

It was the Manufacturer's
Association.

Maybe he should be
fist-bumping them.

Industry wasn't just undermining
laws that protect water.

They were literally
writing them.

Just how far did this
kind of control reach?

- [Andy] Did you see what hit
the news the other day, right?

- Well, I mean, I know
I was bathing in it

for those two and a half months.

- [Chris] Hi.

- [Mrs. Walters] Come here.

Let's get a snack.

- [Cullen] Did you look at
the stuff that the National.

Toxicology Program released?

- I didn't.

- [Cullen] Well, one thing they
ended up saying about MCHM

is that it could cause
reproductive harm.

- His muscle development
was a little off, but...

- [Cullen] The symptoms
associate with that

are developmental.

- Yeah, that's crazy actually.

That's weird.

But he's fine now, but he
was about six months behind

in muscle development
for a while, so.

- You know, we were
worried, and we of course

had that in the back
of our mind that,

there was no medical monitoring.

There was no doctor
visits that happened

every single year to check
in or anything like that

to show, I guess, a conclusion.

- [Cullen] On your data?

The study proving MCHM
was twice as toxic?

[light instrumental music]

But why would the CDC
go out of their way

to hide the truth about MCHM?

It didn't make sense.

[light instrumental music]

[water runs]

January of 2016, it's when
the international spotlight

turned towards the
lead contamination

in the drinking water
of Flint, Michigan.

- It used to be cars
were made in Flint,

and you couldn't drink
the water in Mexico.

Now, the cars are
made in Mexico,

and you can't drink
the water in Flint.

- [Mom] It makes you feel
bad as a parent to know

that you've been poisoning
your child all this time.

Why are you worrying?

- Because.

- Can you tell them why?

- I'm afraid it's
not gonna be fixed.

- We're gonna have problems
with kids in special education

services, cognition,
behavioral problems, focusing.

- [Cullen] It was a
shot in the dark,

but maybe this
contamination held the key

to opening up this story.

- A lot of people in Flint
have lead pipe like this

going from the water main
that runs down the street

into their homes.
[audience applauds]

Scientists from
Virginia Tech came up

to test the water in Flint.

- The corrosive water
actually ate up every

metallic pipe in the system.

- [Rachel Maddow] Government
officials it turns out,

did know about the lead.

- We are fully cooperating
with investigations

and will hold those
individuals accountable.

- [Cullen] Unlike MCHM,
lead doesn't have an odor.

This had enabled officials
to cover this up

for over two years.

But I had a hard
time that officials

would knowingly
poison 8,000 kids

just to save a few
bucks on water.

[wind hums]

- The parts per billion in
her house was over 13,000.

13,000.

I've never seen a
level that high.

And the state removed her house
from the sampling protocol.

Like, where are the red
flags that were going off

in people's brains?

- [Cullen] Dr. Mona
Hanna-Attisha is one of

two main people that brought
this contamination to light.

She looked at the blood
results of more than

1,700 children from Flint.

- So we were attacked.

The state said I was
causing near hysteria.

That their numbers were not
consistent with our numbers.

When the state tells you
you're wrong, it's hard

not to second-guess yourself.

They have a team of
50 epidemiologists.

You're supposed to
sample from homes

that have lead plumbing.

They sampled from homes that
didn't have lead plumbing,

so there was a lot of
kind of manipulations

of how the water lead
levels were being done.

So it continued the almost
two years of denial, denial.

There's a problem.

- [Cullen] I was reminded
of the CDC refusing.

Dr. Whelton's results.

Why were these agencies
covering up the facts?

What's strange is that
it didn't even seem like

the politicians were in on it.

Here's the governor of Michigan
testifying before Congress.

- We'd go back to the experts
over and over again.

We were told the water was safe.

That was wrong.

It wasn't just one department.

As it continued on, we
got information not only

from the DEQ but the
Department of Health

and Human Services
that they didn't see

elevated levels in blood.

- [Cullen] These departments
that he's describing,

they're analogs to the
ones that Randy Huffman

and Dr. Gupta run.

- Here's my briefing
from the night before,

and it's information from
both those departments

dismissing people.

I get so mad that I never
should have believed them.

So we had cases where it
took outside experts.

That's tragic.

- So this is scary.

You've got reproductive
toxins, some cancer hazards.

- [Cullen] Well, at
least they're labeled.

- Yeah.

DC prepared me and
my team for Flint.

- [Cullen] Dr. Marc
Edwards, outside expert

in Flint, number two.

It turns out this wasn't
even the first time

he had gone toe to toe
with federal agencies

over lead in drinking water.

- I had fought a 12 year
battle in Washington DC

exposing government science
agency corruption.

The Center for Disease
Control, the USEPA,

the environmental policemen
we pay to protect us

were actually the
environmental criminals.

I mean, I know longer
trust the CDC.

Why?

Because the upper levels
of CDC is proving

themselves untrustworthy to me.

The amount of harm in
Washington DC is 30 times worse

than what happened
in Flint, Michigan.

They poisoned thousands
of children,

covered it up for
about seven years.

I had to betray some of my
best friends, people I went

to graduate school with, who
were working with the EPA

and creating fabricated reports.

- Who is creating that culture?

Is it lobbyists?

Is it the politicians
who appoint them?

- Well, how could the Catholic
church do what it did?

Make it in your interest to
engage in unethical behavior

to cover up problems, and if
you can get away with it,

you will do that.

Ultimately, there was a
Congressional hearing

where they were
chastised publicly,

but no one was ever
held accountable.

- [Cullen] It seemed history
was repeating itself.

Here's the head of the
EPA at the Congressional

hearing about Flint.

- [Mr. Chaffetz] Has
anybody been fired?

That's a question.

- No, sir.

- Has anybody been dismissed?

- No, sir.

- EPA covered this up
every step of the way.

They will protect their
reputation above all else.

- Oversight was our
responsibility.

We took that seriously,
and we conducted it.

Does that mean I
don't have regrets?

- One heroic employee
there, he wrote a memo

that said EPA should
exert emergency powers.

- [Cullen] But in response,
he was told that they weren't

sure Flint was the kind
of community they wanted

to go out on a limb for.

And so this EPA official was
ignored over and over again.

He was so fed up that
after 27 years of working

for the EPA, he had this to say.

"People trying to do the
right thing are constantly

"being subjected to intense
scrutiny as if we were

"doing something wrong."

"It's all of this, don't
find anything bad crap"

"at EPA that's the reason I
desperately want to leave."

"EPA is a cesspool."

This would explain why in
the months after Flint

when other communities
tested their water systems,

it turned out that Flint was
just the tip of the iceberg.

- Pittsburghers are likely
drinking water laced

with toxic lead.

- Chicago parks shut off
hundreds of drinking fountains.

- [Reporter] The water
in Garfield, Texas.

- 10% of Portland homes.

- All drinking fountains
at Ohio's most important

and historic building.

- [Cullen] According
to an investigation

conducted by Reuters,
nearly 3,000 areas

had lead poisoning rates
far higher than in Flint.

- And then you ask the
question, well, if they're

doing that for lead in water,
what else are they hiding?

- How can we trust
any of the science

that's coming out of the EPA,
if this is the culture there?

- That's the reality.

You cannot.

- [Cullen] It seemed that
the EPA and CDC were

too busy protecting their own
reputations to be trusted.

If Dr. Edwards was right,
it's what I'd been missing.

- The fact is most whistle
blowers regret it.

I was at the top of
the game at EPA.

In my case, the EPA funded
the University of Georgia

to publish 20 years of
fake data to counteract

research I published
at UGA documenting

adverse health affects.

- How are you sure the data
was being falsified, made up?

- The scientists admitting
under oath the data were faked

and that they believed
people were getting sick.

In one case, a federal judge
ruled the data were fabricated.

The CDC is doing exactly the
same thing that EPA is doing.

The most astounding part
of that is that even

when the CDC and EPA admit
their data are fake

and they're caught, they
still will not remove it

from the scientific literature.

Political appointees go
through the revolving door

between government and industry.

They're washing
each other's hands.

- [Cullen] Who runs
independent tests outside

of these agencies to ensure
the drinking water is safe?

- That's the scary thing.

Almost no one.

- [Dr. Whelton] There are other
chemicals going into the

water that are not being
tested, not being reported.

- [Cullen] And there is a
method for figuring out

what those chemicals are.

- It's wicked expensive
to do chemical testing.

If you're looking
to find something,

you need to know what
you're looking for.

And that's a huge undertaking.

[light instrumental music]

- [Cullen] The plan was
to test near major

industrial sites in the river.

If we found any chemicals
at a high concentration,

we would test for that same
chemical in taps downstream.

It was impossible to
test for everything,

so we picked chemicals that
were the most likely suspects.

[light electronic music]

So have you been
drinking the water?

- I haven't since the
whole thing started.

You know, you have one
bout with rare cancer,

and you're real
careful after that.

I have a son in law
who works for DuPont.

Yeah, we're right
down from it now.

- [Cullen] Yeah,
I'm real curious

what they're puttin'
in the water.

- I am, too.

I am, too.

[light instrumental music]

- [Cullen] All right.

What's that, Rick?

There's a boat
coming towards us?

- [Rick] We can fill
these up on the way.

- All right, let's
get out of here.

[boat engine revs]

Two months later, the
scientist that I'd been

working with at USGS or United
States Geological Survey

sent me an email
with the results.

His response was surprising.

There was no smoking gun.

They found very little of the
chemicals that they expected

to be in the river.

And we had done our testing
near what should have been

the release points.

Either we had done
something wrong,

or they really weren't releasing

all that much into the river.

However, there was something
that I didn't understand.

In the lab report, there are
all of these unidentified

tiny little peaks.

What was the big thing
that you uncovered?

- People in towns and
cities across America

were getting sick that
lived next to where

land application of sewage
sludge was occurring.

See, material that settles out
at sewage treatment plants

is mostly human feces mixed
with industrial waste,

and it's free fertilizer.

Some of it's sold at Home
Depot and other outlets.

Every chemical that could
possibly cause harm

to human health is there.

So I went about to document
these illnesses and deaths

and found out that they were
linked to an EPA policy.

In the early '70s passed
the Clean Water Act.

That made a very expensive
industry to pollute

our rivers and lakes, so once
their lobbyists got involved

and they got in bed with
EPA and vice versa,

what they wanted was,
there's no clean soil act.

Let's just dump all this
on land, not regulate it,

and make it free for us.

That's what happened in 1993.

That was the first
Clinton administration.

The agency was reorganized
science-wise,

so it became very
political at that point.

- So industry is
basically flushing

chemicals down the drain?

- Now, they don't
have to build a pipe

to the river and pay for it.

They flush it down the toilet.

- That would explain why
when I tested the river,

it was cleaner than I expected.

- Yeah, it's now
going everywhere we

school playgrounds, parks,
golf courses, farms, forests.

It rains, so it runs off
into creeks and streams.

It goes into the
rivers and lakes.

- I have to admit it sounds
a little far-fetched to me.

- Well, you see what
happened in Flint.

The mere fact that scientists
cannot publish data

that shows what the
government's doing and what

universities are doing,
that explains all this.

- How old are the
people who died?

- From small children
to elderly people.

- [Cullen] Looking back at
the data from the river,

it now made sense.

All of these little peaks,
they represented chemicals.

Instead of there being huge
amounts of just a few chemicals,

there were small amounts of
hundreds, if not thousands.

And they couldn't be
identified because we didn't

know what to look for.

Very little research is
being done in this field.

However, there were a number
of studies that had looked

for low levels of drugs
appearing in rivers.

Drugs that people consume and
then flush down the drain.

Antidepressants, steroids,
antibiotics, even meth,

every drug researchers had
looked for was in the river

in the parts per billion range.

And when they tested fertilizer
made from sewage sludge,

in many cases the drugs
were there, too,

but at exponentially
higher levels.

This research was indisputable.

It had been replicated
by multiple

agencies across the globe.

Dr. Lewis was right.

Clearly these peaks
were not all benign.

If these chemicals were all
appearing in river samples,

then were they getting into
our drinking water as well?

- [Water Tester] Some
of your chemicals

are starting to come off.

- Each of those peaks
is a chemical?

- This whole area
underneath here is probably

200 different chemicals
are coming off right now.

- This sample was from my own

tap water in California.

It turns out that there
is a way to identify

some of the peaks.

The sample can be run against
a huge database of chemicals,

and sometimes you
can find a match.

So we tested downstream
of the chemical valley.

If we did find a chemical
of concern, I believed

that Dr. Gupta and possibly
Randy Huffman would help us

proving that regulators can
put science before politics.

[light instrumental music]

Now, there were other
chemicals found.

This is the one
that I thought was

the most concerning
of the bunch.

It says one, one, two,
two tetrachloroethane.

It has a quality match
of 96 that we found

in four of the five locations.

It's three to four times
more toxic than MCHM.

California considers
it to be a carcinogen.

A little less than one
part per billion.

But what I'm really trying
to understand is like,

is this a big deal or not?

- These are small numbers,
but they're significant

numbers to my mind, you know.

This is coming out
of the water plant.

- I didn't realize those
were drinking water samples.

That's a huge deal.

So the analytics were
done by USGS labs?

- [Cullen] Yeah.

- [Kevin] They do great science.

- The lead chemist who
did this research,

he has 130 scientific
papers published.

He felt very confident that
this chemical was there.

- One of the guys who
used to work for me,

he's a PhD chemist, he
seems to think it's real.

I mean, I expected
to be unconvinced.

- [Kevin] I did, too.

- I'm convinced.

It's real.

- [Kevin] Have we gone upstream?

- [Cullen] We didn't find
any high concentrations

of this in our river testing.

- [Kevin] But it could
be leaching out of soil.

It doesn't mean it was dumped.

- That doesn't mean
it's still not a crisis

because if it's happened
this time, it's happened

in the past, and it will
happen again in the future.

If you had buy-in from state
agencies, tell the public

about this, that would
be good if they'd play.

- Yeah, but Jeff
McIntyre's the president

of West Virginia American Water.

I think you need
to give it a shot.

- [Cullen] So I sent an
email to the key players

in American Water.

I hadn't heard back.

It looks like
reception's locked.

That's weird.

It's the middle of a work day.

Okay.

I am here to speak to either
Laura Jordan or Jeff McIntyre

about some data regarding
a chemical in the water.

They're behind closed doors.

Can you have one of them
give me a call back?

All right, I just need to
be able to share this data

with somebody who can look at it

and make an informed decision.

[light instrumental music]

So these concentrations
pretty much match

what we found in the river.

- So you found it in taps, too.

- Yeah, correct.

We weren't able to pinpoint
a source, so I'm thinking

maybe it's due to rainfall.

- You didn't sample
in the Ohio River.

- No, I haven't done that yet.

That would be something
that'd be really good to do,

especially after
everything thaws.

- We just don't know.

We just gotta do some
research and see what we find

and if we can find anything.

You have any plans to
share this information

with our state health
department, Bureau

I mean, they regulate
drinking water.

- Well, I sent Dr.
Gupta all of the data.

He hasn't made time yet, so.

- Okay.

- [Cullen] A big event was
planned in the shadow

of the capitol to
celebrate safe water.

Dr. Gupta and the president
of West Virginia

American Water were
both keynote speakers.

- How much information
is to be shared?

When we don't know something,

I will tell you
we don't know it.

Thank you for having me today.

[audience applauds]

- Yeah, but what's the
minimum detection limit?

That's really important.

All I know with a very
high degree of certainty

is that it was in the
water two months ago.

Like, if you had someone
from your department

go and run tests...

I mean, I sent you all the data.

But if the chemical
is in fact there,

then it's something that
requires a degree of speed.

Do you think that the
public should at least

have the ability to make
a decision about this

from the available data?

It would only be carefully
disseminated information

that explains exactly what we
know and what we don't know.

Thank you, Dr. Gupta.

- I do think people have
a right to know if any

substances are going to end
up in their drinking water.

I think people do have a
right to know that up front

whether these substances
are classified

as hazardous or non-hazardous.

- [Cullen] In the coming
days, his department

would look for any holes
they could find in our data

implying that we had somehow
added this chemical

into the samples ourselves.

Behind the scenes, officials had
already cast so much doubt,

the local press seemed
nervous to run the story.

It was hard to blame them as
it reminded me of something.

Dr. Edwards had said.

- You have to fight this on
your own because who else

wants to pay a price?

- [Cullen] I had exhausted
every option except for one.

Can I hold that for one sec?

- Yeah.

- While we wait for those
answers to come in,

I have an announcement to make.

So four months ago, I
went the Kanawha River,

and I took samples.

It was an audience full
of health department

and water company employees.

I hoped that maybe they
would respond to facts.

These tests came
back at a range of

between .5 and .85
parts per billion.

These levels are not
considered to be safe

in eight states in this country.

This should warrant
further investigation

by your state officials.

Thank you.

[audience applauds]

- So I think it's kind of
reprehensible to come up

and make a statement when
you think you're sure,

but I can tell you I am sure.

And there is no concern with
the Huntington water supply

relating to that chemical.

- [Cullen] Imagine if officials
had waited two months

after the original spill.

They wouldn't have
found anything.

Not to mention that the
soil was now frozen.

To my knowledge, no
testing by the regulatory

agencies was ever done.

The carcinogen I had
brought attention to

in West Virginia, it was
just the one chemical

that we could detect,
and it was unregulated.

So legally it could
be in the water.

But there were still
thousands of chemicals

that the system couldn't
find a match for,

chemicals you couldn't smell.

And we don't know if
they're harmful or not

because the studies
are all confidential,

and the science could be
fake like it was with MCHM.

Besides, who's going
to look for something

that they don't want to find?

- [Dr. Gupta] Changing
culture, both industry

and government is a tough thing.

It's not easy.

I mean, I'm absolutely working
to change the culture within

our side of it, and
it's not that easy.

- Why do we want a villain?

We can exonerate ourselves
in our own minds anyway

if there's a villain.

That's why it's so
easy to be a victim.

- Science is based
completely on trust.

If scientists and engineers
aren't trustworthy,

the public will turn against us.

And I think it's
already happening.

And they will turn to other
sources of authority

who are historically
less reliable.

You could enter a new Dark Age.

[computer keys click]

- Failed environmental
leadership has contributed

to two of the worst
government-created environmental

disasters in decades,
which have undermined

the American people's
faith in the agency.

This is why I believe Trump
nominated attorney general,

Pruitt, to serve as
the administrator

of the Environmental
Protection Agency.

- Mr. Pruitt, you have sued
the EPA 19 times to stop

clean air and water protections.

Do you believe there is
any safe level of lead...

- Senator, that's something
I've not reviewed

nor know about.

I've not looked at the
scientific research on that.

- [Cullen] In 2017, Scott
Pruitt, the new head of the EPA

began dismantling
his own agency.

- We are going to end the EPA
intrusion into your lives.

- [Cullen] He fired nearly
everyone on the independent

scientific advisory board.

Then began removing scientific
research from public view.

- This is a wholesale wiping
out of historical record.

The science that's we've
developed and the actions

we've taken and
why we took them.

You can disagree with
many of those actions.

But what you can't do
is simply deny history.

[light instrumental music]

- [Cullen] It was the
culmination of regulators

behaving unethically, of
politicians leveraging science

for their own benefit, of
the public losing trust

in a broken system, but
science isn't broken,

which means the system
can be rebuilt.

But until that happens, it's
probably best you remember

that we're all
downstream of something.

[light electronic music]

♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh

♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh

♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh

♪ Feel our flesh as we misbehave

♪ Drifting in the undertone

♪ Before you go

♪ It's safe now

♪ The water's just fine

♪ We close our eyes now

♪ I'm blind, and you are

- Sir are you gonna
plead guilty?

♪ Oh, oh, oh

♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh

♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

♪ Your body and breath
will now keep me

♪ Breathing past midnight

- You've gotta stop
politicizing either side

and get back to the science.

[water splashes]

- That was all right.

♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh

- Each of these individuals
attempted to bury

or cover up the
Michigan Department of

and the Michigan Department
of Health and Human Services.

♪ Oh, oh, oh

♪ Oh, oh, oh

♪ On the shore

♪ To you I call

♪ We cannot fall

♪ Hide 'til spring time

♪ Sing