Climate law means shit when it isn’t enforced. Companies actively dump dangerous waste into their surrounding communities and getting a slap on the wrist while taxpayers pay for clean up, and real Americans can’t drink the water in their wells or live in their homes because of the pollution.
Hooker Electrochemical Company (now Occidental Chemical Corporation): Between 1942 and 1953, the company dumped over 21,000 tons of hazardous chemical waste into the Love Canal in Niagara Falls, New York. The leaking, abandoned landfill forced the evacuation of hundreds of homes and led to the creation of the Superfund program. (This one is known as the Love Canal scandal. Hooker sold the landfill, and told the buyers not to build on the land, but the new landowners built on it anyway.)
DuPont/Chemours: The company released millions of pounds of PFOA (“forever chemicals”) into the air and the Ohio River from its Parkersburg, West Virginia plant, contaminating drinking water for thousands. The contamination spread to Hoosick Falls, New York, where DuPont, 3M, Saint-Gobain, and Honeywell settled lawsuits for over $90 million.
Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E): Between 1952 and 1966, the company used hexavalent chromium to fight corrosion at a cooling tower in Hinkley, California, allowing the wastewater to percolate into local groundwater. The resulting health crisis in the community was popularized by the film Erin Brockovich.
Tyson Foods: An investigation found that from 2018 to 2022, 41 Tyson processing plants released approximately 371 million pounds of toxic pollutants—including nitrogen, phosphorus, and cyanide—into U.S. waterways.
ExxonMobil: The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill released roughly 11 million gallons of oil into Alaska’s Prince William Sound, ruining 1,300 miles of coastline, decimating the fishing industry, and killing extensive wildlife.
Firestone Tire & Rubber Co.: Between 1963 and 1980, the company dumped large amounts of hazardous solvents into the Crazy Horse landfill in California, which later contaminated the water wells of neighboring families.
BP: The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which spilled over 130 million gallons of oil, caused widespread, long-term damage to marine life and coastal communities.
Campbell Soup Supply Co.: Admitted to violating the Clean Water Act at least 5,400 times between 2018 and 2024 by discharging waste into the Maumee River in Ohio.
Anaconda Aluminum (Montana): Contaminated local water sources with lead and chromium.
Duke Energy: Faced severe scrutiny for leaking 39,000 tons of coal ash into the Dan River.
I grew up in the 80s when there was a massive push to recycle, only to find out 20 years later that all of that plastic I was separating and putting aside wasn’t being recycled, and was instead sold to third world countries and just ended up fucking up the environment in those third world areas. Now I just go out of my way to avoid purchasing items that are made of plastic or sold in plastic packaging since the recycling I was doing didn’t impact shit.
Climate law means shit when it isn’t enforced. Companies actively dump dangerous waste into their surrounding communities and getting a slap on the wrist while taxpayers pay for clean up, and real Americans can’t drink the water in their wells or live in their homes because of the pollution.
Hooker Electrochemical Company (now Occidental Chemical Corporation): Between 1942 and 1953, the company dumped over 21,000 tons of hazardous chemical waste into the Love Canal in Niagara Falls, New York. The leaking, abandoned landfill forced the evacuation of hundreds of homes and led to the creation of the Superfund program. (This one is known as the Love Canal scandal. Hooker sold the landfill, and told the buyers not to build on the land, but the new landowners built on it anyway.)
DuPont/Chemours: The company released millions of pounds of PFOA (“forever chemicals”) into the air and the Ohio River from its Parkersburg, West Virginia plant, contaminating drinking water for thousands. The contamination spread to Hoosick Falls, New York, where DuPont, 3M, Saint-Gobain, and Honeywell settled lawsuits for over $90 million.
Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E): Between 1952 and 1966, the company used hexavalent chromium to fight corrosion at a cooling tower in Hinkley, California, allowing the wastewater to percolate into local groundwater. The resulting health crisis in the community was popularized by the film Erin Brockovich.
Tyson Foods: An investigation found that from 2018 to 2022, 41 Tyson processing plants released approximately 371 million pounds of toxic pollutants—including nitrogen, phosphorus, and cyanide—into U.S. waterways.
ExxonMobil: The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill released roughly 11 million gallons of oil into Alaska’s Prince William Sound, ruining 1,300 miles of coastline, decimating the fishing industry, and killing extensive wildlife.
Firestone Tire & Rubber Co.: Between 1963 and 1980, the company dumped large amounts of hazardous solvents into the Crazy Horse landfill in California, which later contaminated the water wells of neighboring families.
BP: The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which spilled over 130 million gallons of oil, caused widespread, long-term damage to marine life and coastal communities.
Campbell Soup Supply Co.: Admitted to violating the Clean Water Act at least 5,400 times between 2018 and 2024 by discharging waste into the Maumee River in Ohio.
Anaconda Aluminum (Montana): Contaminated local water sources with lead and chromium.
Duke Energy: Faced severe scrutiny for leaking 39,000 tons of coal ash into the Dan River.
I grew up in the 80s when there was a massive push to recycle, only to find out 20 years later that all of that plastic I was separating and putting aside wasn’t being recycled, and was instead sold to third world countries and just ended up fucking up the environment in those third world areas. Now I just go out of my way to avoid purchasing items that are made of plastic or sold in plastic packaging since the recycling I was doing didn’t impact shit.