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NGWA interview with Robert Bilott, author of Exposure

Nov 12, 2019, 09:00 AM by User Not Found
Read the transcript of an interview NGWA conducted with Robert Bilott, author of Exposure, the story behind the major motion picture, Dark Waters.
 

Exposure by Robert BilottFollows is a transcript of an interview NGWA conducted with Robert Bilott, author of Exposure, the story behind the major motion picture, Dark Waters.

NGWA: How did you approach writing the book? It’s very accessible and well detailed for a story that spans 20 years. Did the fact so much of the story was documented for the case help with recalling details and how events unfolded?

Bilott: This has been a long process and it took many years to pull all this information together. I was really looking to find a way to make this story available to folks — to help them understand what we know, what’s happened, and what’s been done with this chemical. Particularly as we saw PFOA and related PFAS chemicals pop up in communities all across the country I was hoping to pull all the facts of the case and story together in a way that was understandable, to let people and communities know what has already happened, and the current science on this so they don’t have to spend another 20 years reinventing the wheel.

NGWA: There seems to be a continuous theme of you being an outsider in the book — shy, not necessarily the most outgoing person, and not fitting in at Taft, college, or in Cincinnati’s close-knit community. Do you still feel that way now that you've gained so much recognition for your work and are more of a public figure?

Bilott: Well, I’m definitely the same person and, in many ways, I think my personality worked well in the context of this litigation. Being someone who is focused on details and happy to sit down with a huge stack of documents and spend many hours, if not many days, putting facts in order and piecing things together I think worked out well for the case.

NGWA: Yes, with your attention to detail and family ties to West Virginia, you seemed tailormade for this case.

Bilott: I’m not the type of person who wants to see an executive summary. I need to read through the documents myself and read and reread things, and I enjoy digging through the facts and figuring out the history.

NGWA: In the book, once you discover how widespread the PFOA exposure is and the lengths to hide it you write, “This was more the stuff of Hollywood thrillers than real life.” After that point was there any part of you that thought this story would one day become a Hollywood film and that you were playing the leading role in this drama yet to be made?

Bilott: No, my focus has always been to do what we could to help these folks and protect them and get the information out to the public and government regulators. We wanted to help them sound the alarm once we realized the scope of this public health threat.

This was something that went far beyond one farmer and his family, and far beyond the communities of West Virginia and Ohio. Once we realized that we were dealing with something that had resulted in possible contamination across the country, if not the globe, bringing attention to the health threat has remained one of my primary objectives.

NGWA: Past a good story, what do you want readers to get out of this book?

Bilott: I think all of us have a right to clean water and I think most of us, especially in United State, assume that when we turn on that tap, someone has already been looking out for us to make our water safe. That we have systems in place, regulatory agencies and other entities that are ensuring there are not dangerous chemicals in our water.

I think what we see through this story is that this may not always be the case. We have the right to understand what we are being exposed to and we need to demand that systems are in place that make sure we are provided with information about what we are being exposed to and the potential health effects.

Hopefully with the book and movie coming out, people will begin to more fully understand that PFOA/PFAS exposure exists and there is information available on what these chemicals can do to us.

I also hope the book can help inspire change at the national level to make sure these chemicals are cleaned up. We are seeing steps in that regard at the state level and we are starting to see more movement on the federal level.

NGWA: You keynoted NGWA’s PFAS Management, Mitigation, and Remediation Conference in June. What did you think of the presentations you heard? What are you feeling on the role of nongovernmental groups’ role for the future of PFAS contamination?

Bilott: We are looking at a situation where we most likely have very widespread exposure. This is a chemical that is being found in the groundwater, in drinking water, and in soil all across the country. This is going to be potentially very expensive to clean up and I think we have to look at who’s going to help pay that cost. Should those forced to install a filter or treatment system for PFOA/PFAS have to pay the cost? Should the taxpayers or consumers be stuck paying this cost? I don’t think they should be.

NGWA: Early in your book, you mention movies like Erin Brockovich and A Civil Action and along with being a corporate defense attorney “knowing the evil, faceless corporation can become real,” but also knowing that many corporations act in good faith with a strong moral compass, what do you feel the state of trust is in corporate America and what can companies do to gain and retain trust?

Bilott: If we look at the situation that I was working on with DuPont, we are essentially looking at a lack of transparency — information existed that made clear there was a public health threat, the company possessed information that the public and government regulators did not have, and made the repeated decision to not turn that over.

My focus is on working on ways to get information to the public and to the scientific and regulatory communities. We need to make sure that once we know there is a health threat like this, we are able to take actions to address it and clean it up as soon as possible. When dealing with issues of public health, transparency is paramount.

NGWA: Much of the world’s first time hearing about PFAS will be through your book and the upcoming movie. This story will obviously, and justly, make a lot of people angry and also scared about their health as it relates to these chemicals — do you see many signs of hope for our future as it relates to PFAS?

Bilott: I think what you see through the book and what you will see through the movies is, yes, we are dealing with a substantial public health threat, but individuals and communities can force major changes and make a dramatic difference.

Communities that come together and work together can change the world, as the community in West Virginia and Ohio did. Those communities saw 69,000 people come together and participate in a massive public health study that finally was able to put to rest this argument that there wasn’t enough information on what PFOA could do to humans.

I think seeing the power of what an individual or community can do to prompt changes like this can be very encouraging.

And we are seeing the consequences of that play out on a large scale. We see states across the country taking action based on the data that came out of this work, and we are seeing signs of action starting to be taken on this at the federal level for the first time in 20-30 years.

PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, is a category of human-made chemicals that have been widely used in a variety of products and industries, such as firefighting foams, protective coatings, and surfactant applications among many other uses and products. This website section provides information on PFAS particularly oriented toward private wells and the water well industry to help you understand the sources and occurrence of PFAS in groundwater. If you are concerned about the possibility of PFAS in your drinking water and are served by a private well, both NGWA and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommend testing your drinking water as well as reaching out to your local health department for information.

As an authority on groundwater in the United States, NGWA is a leader in the science of PFAS affecting this important natural resource. Directed by a standing task group dedicated to advancing the knowledge of this emerging topic, NGWA’s PFAS initiatives include hosting PFAS conferences focused on groundwater and publishing multiple products (technical guidance documents, white papers, fact sheets, position papers) related to PFAS, groundwater, and the water well industry.

The last several years have seen a flurry of wide-ranging legislation concerning PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) from Capitol Hill and state legislatures. NGWA has been a key resource on not only providing the sound science to inform policymakers about these “forever chemicals,” but also providing solutions that our members’ expertise can provide to ensure our groundwater resources are safe and reliable. While we agree states have a right to manage and regulate PFAS based on their unique circumstances, we also feel the federal government must provide clearer and scientifically researched guidance on PFAS treatment and disposal. 

NGWA continues to advocate for:

  • Supporting a bipartisan solution that creates a maximum contaminant level — or MCL — for PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) and PFOS (perfluorooctanesulfonic acid) based on the best available science
  • Dedicating financial and technical resources to private well owners for testing and remediating PFAS
  • Properly funding PFAS programs and solutions to ensure our groundwater is safe and reliable
  • Advanced guidance from the EPA on the treatment and disposal of PFAS.

PFAS: Top 10 Facts

Find out important facts on this class of manmade chemicals used in firefighting, stain resistance, water repellants, and other industrial applications since the 1940s in this document created by experts. Download the PDF.

pp-pfas-the-truth-about-private-water-wellsPFAS: The Truth About Water Wells position paper

NGWA published this position paper in 2022 that provides facts about PFAS and how water wells can still provide safe water because effective residential-scale PFAS treatment technologies are commercially available. It is ideal for sharing with local, state, and federal officials. Download the position paper.

Practical Guide for PFAS Sampling white paper

The NGWA white paper, Practical Guide for PFAS Sampling, provides a practical guide to PFAS sample collection for those familiar with industry-standard environmental field sampling practices.

Groundwater professionals may be called on to sample for PFAS analysis and to interpret PFAS laboratory data. The presence of PFAS in many products, potentially including products commonly used in environmental field sampling efforts, should be considered when planning a PFAS sampling program, and this document provides a guide for such programs.

PFAS Fate and Transport 2021 white paper

NGWA’s white paper, PFAS Fate and Transport 2021, updates section four of the NGWA guidance document, Groundwater and PFAS: State of Knowledge and Practice, which was published in 2017.

Since the release of that guidance document, many studies have investigated PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) transformation, partitioning, and transport; for example, the influence of PFAS accumulation at media interfaces, such as the air-water-solid interfaces in the vadose zone.

This white paper picks up where that section of the guidance document left off by providing important updates.

pfas-contractorsPFAS risk communication

As a groundwater professional, you may need to inform a customer of the potential for PFAS contamination in their well water and subsequent actions to mitigate exposure. NGWA recently published “PFAS Risk Communication for Contractors,” a two-page fact sheet to aid groundwater professionals in such communications. The document features common questions that may be asked and talking points that may be of assistance.

The document was crafted by the following volunteers and NGWA staff:

  • William M. Alley, Ph.D., NGWA
  • Melissa Harclerode, Ph.D., ENV, SP, CDM Smith
  • Shalene Thomas, VP, Wood Environment & Infrastructure Solution
  • Andy Horn, PG, Westwater Hydrology LLCUntitled design (15)
  • Dave Schulenberg, QAS, NGWA.

PFAS and private wells

NGWA recently published “PFAS and Private Well Owners: What You Need to Know,” a two-page fact sheet that groundwater professionals can distribute to customers and others in their community concerned about PFAS. Written in easy-to-understand language by groundwater professionals, it explains what PFAS are, how to test wells for PFAS, treatment options, and more.

NGWA guidance document

NGWA published Groundwater and PFAS: State of Knowledge and Practice, a guidance document on PFAS in 2017. Created by 36 NGWA volunteers who spent 1100 hours on it over the course of 12 months, it is a comprehensive eight-part piece exploring the potentially hazardous, and widely discussed, compounds in groundwater and soil. NGWA published the document to identify the known science and knowledge related to PFAS; it summarizes the fate, transport, remediation, and treatment of PFAS, as well as current technologies, methods, and field procedures.

Water and soil guidelines and regulations

Click here to be redirected to a website where the Interstate Technology and Regulatory Council (ITRC) maintains fact sheets on PFAS along with Excel® spreadsheets that contain PFAS water and soil regulatory and guidance values by state and federal agencies.

PFAS — Educating the Contractor and Customer (video)

Click here to access and watch the video.

NGWA PFAS experts

seth-kelloggSeth Kellogg, PG, a senior geologist at Geosyntec Consultants,​ was elected to the board of the Scientists and Engineers Section of NGWA in 2016, and the national board in 2019. She has more than 25 years of experience in evaluating complex contaminant hydrogeology and groundwater/surface water interactions, including large groundwater and sediment sites in New York and New Jersey. As PFAS have emerged as environmental concerns, Kellogg has been working with NGWA to advance the industry’s understanding and implementation of best practices. She has presented and published on the technical and regulatory challenges of PFAS contamination, including coauthoring NGWA’s Groundwater and PFAS: State of Knowledge and Practice (NGWA Press 2017). In May 2018, Kellogg was recommended by members of the NGWA Board of Directors to represent the Association at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency National Leadership Summit on PFAS. Kellogg’s leadership on PFAS has also included several presentations educating industry professionals on the fragmented PFAS regulatory framework, PFAS characterization challenges, and the complexities of PFAS fate and transport. She also served as a program adviser and facilitator for NGWA’s PFAS in Groundwater Workshop that was held in August 2018.

William M. AlleyWilliam M. Alley, Ph.D., is the NGWA director of science and technology. Previously, he served as chief, Office of Groundwater for the U.S. Geological Survey for almost two decades. Alley has published more 100 scientific publications and coauthored with his wife, Rosemarie, High and Dry: Meeting the Challenges of the World’s Growing Dependence on Groundwater. Among other awards, Alley received the USGS Shoemaker Award for Lifetime Achievement in Communication and the Meritorious Presidential Rank Award. He holds a B.S. in geological engineering from the Colorado School of Mines, an M.S. in hydrogeology from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University.

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