One Man Single Handedly Creates Environmental Disaster

One Man Single Handedly Creates Environmental Disaster | Plainly Difficult

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5 ай бұрын

The Valley of the Drums is a 23-acre toxic waste site near Brooks in northern Bullitt County, Kentucky, near Louisville, Officially known and the AL Taylor site, it has cost the US Federal Government multiple millions of dollars to clean up.
Along with the love canal the site is the reason for the EPA Superfund Program
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Sources:
►semspub.epa.gov/work/04/11111...
►eec.ky.gov/Environmental-Prot...
►www.osti.gov/biblio/6181408
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@PlainlyDifficult 5 ай бұрын

Thanks to Art from Gamer From Mars for his cameo: kzfaq.info/love/J6z_yj_dDNrhn-c8ZyKV4g Thanks for watching, check out me other bits! My new Album: madebyjohn.bandcamp.com/album/ambient-archiv-1 Outro Song: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/mZdgpq-QsNWqf4k.html Instagram: instagram.com/plainly.john/ Patreon: www.patreon.com/Plainlydifficult Merch: plainly-difficult.creator-spring.com Twitter:twitter.com/Plainly_D

@macaylacayton2915 5 ай бұрын

Thought I recognized the voice

@relwalretep 5 ай бұрын

Still waiting for the bingo card link!!!!

@HayLeesHomeMade 5 ай бұрын

I knew it lol

@yarrlegap6940 5 ай бұрын

Very good job ... I know way too much about this ... and Love Canal ... having been an industrial wastewater permit engineer for years for a mid-west state ... and having friends with direct experience. I don't know what more could be said without getting super-geeky ...

@EchoDolph 5 ай бұрын

I knew I heard his ass lolol

@AmyGabrielleAmber 5 ай бұрын

"Taylor had a cunning ace up his sleeve which allowed him to dodge all of the responsibility. And that was dying in 1977. " - LOL xD

@lolface_9363 5 ай бұрын

It is an effective strategy

@imchris5000 5 ай бұрын

this is why plan S is a bullet proof plan to solve anything

@lukefreeman828 5 ай бұрын

Like something from Blackadder lmao

@The_Modeling_Underdog 5 ай бұрын

@@lukefreeman828 Do you have a cunning plan, as well? A man of culture.

@willyolio9590 5 ай бұрын

"I'm spending a year dead for tax reasons"

@PuppyLuver256 5 ай бұрын

Oh hey, it's my state! ...oh... it's my state...

@hauntedshadowslegacy2826 5 ай бұрын

If that ain't a mood, idk what is.

@tjrobards 5 ай бұрын

I thought the same, and then of course I did a 3, 2, 1, countdown in my head for him to mispronounce Louisville :)

@sprybug 5 ай бұрын

You should had known. It's a Plainly Difficult video. It's not going to reflect well for your state. XD

@PuppyLuver256 5 ай бұрын

@@sprybug I know, I hadn't initially read the description so those were the almost immediate back-to-back thoughts I had once hearing him say "Kentucky" in the video XD

@Nefville 5 ай бұрын

@@tjrobards Yep I knew that was coming. I told him, Lou-uh-vull. Prospect here.

@gatsbye53 5 ай бұрын

Cost the federal government millions with this one simple trick!

@krissteel4074 5 ай бұрын

The unlicensed waste dump owner, governments hate him!

@nikolaideianov5092 5 ай бұрын

@@krissteel4074goverment ? More like everyone Exept toxic waste owners

@selanryn5849 5 ай бұрын

Sorta... Funding for Superfund site cleanup initially came from excise taxes on chemical manufacturers. Congress under Republican leadership let the taxes expire in 1995 and funding fell to taxpayers, but Biden's infrastructure bill in 2021 finally reinstated the taxes on chemical manufacturers.

@curbyourshi1056 5 ай бұрын

Hahaha. In 1967, an ambitious young scientist had an idea about how to treat toxic waste...

@stylesrj 5 ай бұрын

Although it does have a high chance of death if performed :D

@scribehades 5 ай бұрын

'Dump all the dodgy chemicals into that hole in the ground.' 'Shouldn't we line it with...' 'I SAID DUMP THE DODGY CHEMICALS INTO THAT HOLE IN THE GROUND.'

@nrs135 5 ай бұрын

"Hey guys, I have an idea on how to stop wasting all this space on drums." (some time later): "Uh, boss... pond's full." "What do you want me to do about it? Try lighting it on fire or something."

@darklotusxxx 5 ай бұрын

some people definatly need carers. like someone just there whos sole job is to say "thats a really shit idea, try something else maybe?

@TheAechBomb 4 ай бұрын

@@darklotusxxxso, safety directors :P

@lofthouse23 4 ай бұрын

Mr Burns style of management there.

@joeblow9657 4 ай бұрын

TFW Homer Simpson is in dangerous waste disposal.

@peepysprite 5 ай бұрын

I grew up about a block from a very similar Superfund site called the J-Pit. The government protected the company that was paid to remediate it in the same way this site was cleaned up (clay, drainage, etc) but instead threw sand and tarps over everything and then never maintained the pumps. We live on a swamp so the contaminated water surrounded us constantly. Didn't know anyone that didn't die of cancer, multiple miscarriages, female reproductive disorders, and infertility were the norm, and the school was overwhelmed with learning disabled or "asthmatic" kids. Courts wouldn't accept water samples we were bringing ourselves showing that it was indeed still contaminated, and badly, from the primarily vinyl industry dumping that occurred. A couple years ago the community finally was able to pool enough funds for legal representation and the court recognized the conpany's failures. And for 25 years of our suffering, death, and disability? they got a couple thousand dollars in fines. I hate it here.

@neilkurzman4907 5 ай бұрын

So let me get this straight. You supported the right of the company to pollute the land. But all the blame goes to the government for not cleaning it up to your satisfaction. So tell me, how high are you willing for your taxes to go to actually do a proper cleanup? Not all of the super fund sites of the past have been cleaned up yet. And they make more new ones every year.

@profdc9501 5 ай бұрын

Maybe you should suggest this for a future video and get more attention to it.

@peepysprite 5 ай бұрын

@@neilkurzman4907 Where the fuck did you get the idea that I supported them polluting our land

@peepysprite 5 ай бұрын

@@profdc9501 To be honest I don't think there are enough sources on what happened here except the superfund documents and our local news site's detail-deficient coverage of the court case. If anyone was collecting data about elevated rates of disease in Black Oak I am not aware of it.

@SynchroScore 5 ай бұрын

@@neilkurzman4907 Where, exactly, did the OP say that they supported the right of the company to pollute the land?

@NigraeLegiones 5 ай бұрын

The ground can have a little toxic waste, as a treat.

@Soundbrigade 5 ай бұрын

“A little toxic waste haven’t killed anyone … 🤗”

@solandri69 5 ай бұрын

It's not just ground. Countless drums of DDT were dumped in the ocean off Southern California. The state monitors it, but it'd be too costly and dangerous to try to retrieve them. It's been long enough that a layers of sand and silt have built up on top of it, capping it. But the fear is that an earthquake and underwater landslide could stir things up, injecting hundreds of tons of DDT into the ecosystem.

@danielle3064 5 ай бұрын

@@solandri69I'm confused, how come it didn't mix into the water when it was dumped? Was it in barrels or just collected somewhere? Edit:NVM I see you said drums. That's wild. Cursed fruit gushers

@JohnnyTromboner 5 ай бұрын

@@solandri69 and then there's the dozens of military oceanic dumping sites for all sorts of stuff from white phosphorous to chemical and biological weapons. So many thousands of drums just yeeted off the decks of whatever ships they were on. Easier to make it some other generation's problem I guess

@peteyification 5 ай бұрын

You should do a documentary on the Krejci dump site... the superfund site right in the middle of one of Ohio's most scenic parks.

@PlainlyDifficult 5 ай бұрын

Thank you for the suggestion!!

@macaylacayton2915 5 ай бұрын

Pretty he could also cover the superfund site near nc state university, has me questioning the type of experiments they were doing in those labs

@weldonwilson 5 ай бұрын

Also the Brio Superfund site in southeast Houston. Across the street from the college I worked at (San Jacinto College South Campus). A subdivision was built on top of the land; people living there started having health issues and a high number of birth defects. EPA finally took notice and bought out the subdivision. Surrounded it with a chain link fence. We at the college were told all was ok now that the fence was there. Eventually site was "cleaned up" and as people have forgotten about the still fenced off site, new subdivisions are being built next to it.

@Idrinklight44 5 ай бұрын

The states are unfortunately full of sites

@katiekane5247 5 ай бұрын

@@Idrinklight44it's a planned money laundering operation

@jamesx4952 5 ай бұрын

Cleaning of the site will be difficult *PLAINLY DIFFICULT *😂😂😂

@brieframe6746 5 ай бұрын

I don't know about you, but I did a spit take. Gosh I love this channel. 100% my sense of humor.

@cesarincamendozaloyola4407 5 ай бұрын

5:16 Really plainly difficult

@erikaswanson7072 5 ай бұрын

I see what you did there, John..

@MrMatteNWk 5 ай бұрын

Ahh, so that's why they call it that.

@johntaylorson7769 5 ай бұрын

I don't know about anyone else, but I need to hear this in every subsequent video now.

@eaglescout1984 5 ай бұрын

EPA: "What is going on here?! What did you do?! This is going to have to be cleaned up and I can tell you it ain't going to be cheap. I hope you have your checkbook ready." Mr. Taylor: "Oh yeah, about that..." _Dies_

@Ragetiger1 5 ай бұрын

EPA: "Well . . . now who we gonna sue to fic this. We cannot sue ourselves while we drag our feet. I know a superfund and make the tax payers responsible."

@neilkurzman4907 5 ай бұрын

Living the Libertarian dream. Do whatever you want on your land. Make a lot of money, then leave the problem to local government. Who then dumped on the state government, who then dumps it on the federal government. Who then has to spend more money cleaning up the mess then he actually made. And of course, all of the surrounding land is also ruined. And yet we have post here supporting the right to pollute. And blaming the federal government for not cleaning up fast enough.

@henryturnerjr3857 5 ай бұрын

"Hey, I have good news and bad news. Your long lost Uncle died and left you a bunch of land in Kentucky."😮

@welporajackwelp4899 5 ай бұрын

whats funny is that those chems probably contributed to his death

@mbryson2899 5 ай бұрын

@@neilkurzman4907Exactly that. Thanks a lot, unregulated, unbridled capitalism. Get rich and screw the rest.

@peckishpagan 5 ай бұрын

Rogue chemical dumping is hell on the communities that remain. I live next to a Superfund site (no idea when we bought the place). It’s next to a river and a lake. Clay caps are neither 100% effective nor a permanent solution. We drink and cook almost exclusively with bottled water; most of the people in my community do. People give me what for, then I tell them… I live by a Superfund site 😅

@misseselise3864 5 ай бұрын

did they at least sell u the home on a discount

@francishollingshead2134 5 ай бұрын

Have you tried to look up any possible potentially responsible parties (PRPs)?

@peckishpagan 5 ай бұрын

@@misseselise3864 that was the original draw lol…

@peckishpagan 5 ай бұрын

@@francishollingshead2134 they are known; they have always been known. It doesn’t really help, though. They can’t pay enough to fix it. Sending people to prison wouldn’t fix it. It’s very frustrating.

@robertwoodliff2536 5 ай бұрын

@@peckishpagan......prison may not fix it....but it may reduce further stupidity...

@cygnia 5 ай бұрын

"I'll show myself out" *giggle*

@PlainlyDifficult 5 ай бұрын

😉

@sebastianthomsen2225 5 ай бұрын

@@PlainlyDifficult some one was cheeky today eh?🙃

@vr6swp 5 ай бұрын

A similar story to the Basket Creek superfund site in Douglas Co GA. The site was used as a chemical waste dump by the Young Refining Co (local asphalt plant) for about 20 years. Locals affected by toxic chemicals were threatened by the company's workers, local gov't officals tried to cover things up because politics, the refining co denied responsibility, etc. It was huge mess. The cleanup has been an ongoing mega process since the 1980's and is still closely monitored

@GearGuardianGaming 5 ай бұрын

georgia would do some shady stuff like that...

@wellthisisembarrassing1242 5 ай бұрын

Literally choked on my water at 'a cunning ace up his sleeve, which allowed him to dodge all responsibility. And that was dying.' Wonderful job.

@nathanbu543 5 ай бұрын

He..he said the thing, he said the thing! He said his own channel name!

@hannahevans9512 5 ай бұрын

I like how factual your videos are without diminishing the lives affected by it

@PlainlyDifficult 5 ай бұрын

Thank you

@Dudeguymansir 5 ай бұрын

@@PlainlyDifficultI see so many voyeurs making documentary videos with the tone “look at this dump of a town! They must be stupid for continuing to live here. Glad I don’t live there! Look at how dirty and sad they are!” I appreciate how you treat the people with respect, while lampooning the jerks who made the mess. And increasing awareness of what is treated like an invisible problem.

@kawaiiarchive357 5 ай бұрын

4:50 best legal defense ever. Perhaps even better than the "I'm just stupid as hell." Argument.

@janwitts2688 5 ай бұрын

As usual the perpetrator benefited massively and escaped justice..

@phils4634 5 ай бұрын

Privatise the Profits, Socialise the risks and losses - "Crony Capitalism" at its very best.

@maxmccullough8548 5 ай бұрын

The perpetrator died of cancer caused by his dumping

@janwitts2688 5 ай бұрын

@maxmccullough8548 I'm not sure it's possible to identify with certainty the cause of cancer..

@maxmccullough8548 5 ай бұрын

@@janwitts2688 guy was dead within 5 years of dumping his first drum...

@Max-yj4sp 4 ай бұрын

This is the future republicans want for us.

@mbilden 5 ай бұрын

Potential sights like this exist ALL OVER, not just in the United States. That being said. I know of two sites in the Minneapolis/St. Pul, Minnesota, USA east suburbs that a large multinational chemical producer used to own that were sold for development with the express stipulation that absolutely no housing development would occur on the sites due to this potential liability. This company is a worldwide household name.

@mbilden 5 ай бұрын

"sites"

@alistairmackintosh9412 5 ай бұрын

3M?

@ItsMrAssholeToYou 5 ай бұрын

@@alistairmackintosh9412 Seems likely, but my automatic go-to on the topic of companies that are the purest, most concentrated essence of evil is Nestle. So unless he actually names the company, it's Nestle.

@SeanBZA 5 ай бұрын

So instead they built schools there.......

@user-cw3wm9lx7w 5 ай бұрын

3M?

@jasons8479 5 ай бұрын

He dies just a few years after beginning to operate his own unregulated toxic waste dump. Gotta wonder if he got cancer or something from handling that nasty stuff. Doubt he used proper PPE when opening up those drums, pouring out their toxic contents and then taking the contaminated drums to sell for scrap. Also wonder if the contaminated scrap caused others harm. Oh well... as I always say, you can't change the past. Just gotta learn from it and do things better.

@peepysprite 5 ай бұрын

People like this do genuinely seem to have convinced themselves that the things they're handling "aren't that bad", usually involving anecdotes about some guy they knew who worked with the same or similar substances and was "just fine!"

@reddwarfer999 5 ай бұрын

As the owner of the site, I very much doubt he personally handled any of the chemicals.

@peepysprite 5 ай бұрын

@@reddwarfer999 But he would have been onsite breathing in the fumes.

@JoshuaTootell 5 ай бұрын

Nah, I totally picture this guy driving a pickup truck with the decal "Dirty hands = clean money" @@reddwarfer999

@eddiek6390 5 ай бұрын

@@reddwarfer999 This was the 1960's in rural Kentucky. He was the primary dumper, the primary burner and the primary person who was recycling the waste barrels for extra cash. A.L. Taylor was a victim himself, a useful idiot that companies used to get rid of their toxic waste.

@aquachonk 5 ай бұрын

In aviation they say that every regulation is written in blood because it takes disaster and loss of life to wake people up to the need for safety parameters. That truth reaches wide. I used to live in a rural area where two roads crossed at an acute angle such that you could not crane your neck far enough to see oncoming vehicles or pedestrians. All the locals hated and feared the intersection, we all wanted a 4-way stop there. When a bicyclist was struck and killed, we finally got our wish. Did I mention the intersection was right in front of an elementary school? Yeah, not even THAT was reason enough for the county to stick some stop signs in the ground, it took an innocent person out for a nice country ride on their Cannondale suddenly laying on the side of the road. I hear it costs a couple thousand dollars to install a sign, materials and labor. I guess that's what a life is going for these days.

@user-cw3wm9lx7w 5 ай бұрын

that sucks. Wherw is rhat?

@thing_under_the_stairs 5 ай бұрын

That noise I made when you said "burning solvents" frightened the cats.

@richardcranium3579 5 ай бұрын

Did you fart?

@MadScientist267 5 ай бұрын

Probably should have that looked at

@fk319fk 5 ай бұрын

That area of Kentucky has a lot of caves. I was surprised it was not mentioned, as it would relate to groundwater contamination. This is also why, for a good well, you have to go very deep.

@johndoyle4723 5 ай бұрын

Yes happens all over the world, here in UK it was common practice to dump drummed waste direct to landfill, I recall there was an incident with drummed cyanide waste and some kids were injured when they were playing on the site. This led to the introduction of the 1974 Control of pollution act and things slowly got better, very slowly.

@LoboPal 5 ай бұрын

The fact that I never heard of superfunds until I was a senior in ChE in college was unsettling back in the day.

@aquachonk 5 ай бұрын

Same. Took a geology class to hear of it. I was horrified.

@leonb2637 5 ай бұрын

I live in Northern New Jersey and surrounded literally by Superfund sites, including one only 500 feet away from my apartment. That was cleaned up in the mid-1990's and visited upon completion by then President Clinton during the primary campaign season in 1996. I grew up in a town in NJ where a mix of cleaning chemicals, lead and mercury from a plant that made blasting caps polluted a part of town and a lake. Wasn't too good for cancer rates for nearby residents and workers.

@richardcranium3579 5 ай бұрын

Did they go down?

@MadScientist267 5 ай бұрын

That whole state is one big superfund. Having gone thru there in the 80s, there is no surprise when it comes to Jersey.

@user-cw3wm9lx7w 5 ай бұрын

where was that

@bsadewitz 4 ай бұрын

Did this channel ever feature the Hercules gunpowder plant explosion? Now, those of northern NJ extraction may be wondering, "Which one are you talking about?" My answer, of course, is "Yes". "The Hercules Powder plant disaster was an explosion at an armaments factory owned by the Hercules Powder Company in the Kenvil section of Roxbury, New Jersey, on 12 September 1940.[1][2] About 52 people were killed and 100 injured.[1]" "The 1940 explosion at the Hercules factory followed another in 1933 that killed six people; in 1989, a third explosion there shattered windows across the town.[7]" Hate to betray my age and all, but I remember the one from 1989. Our windows didn't blow out, but we didn't even live in that town, so ... Yes, the same plant blew up THREE TIMES. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hercules_Powder_plant_disaster

@leonb2637 4 ай бұрын

@@bsadewitz I kinda recall the 1989 explosion. I think most of their operations moved out years ago.

@commanderarto3841 5 ай бұрын

Hey John great video. Just wanted to also say good on you for you OCD donation drive. I have it and it sucks so its always nice to have someone helping the cause.

@PlainlyDifficult 5 ай бұрын

Thank you!

@robinderoos1166 5 ай бұрын

It is a shame the clean up is mostly payed by tax money, it would be great to hold the responsible criminals accountable and make them pay

@lilstinker5475 5 ай бұрын

The biggest shame is its all tax funded because the government doesn't have its own money, most of the money isn't actually going into physical clean up efforts and it doesn't need to take multiple years to complete

4 ай бұрын

@@lilstinker5475That's some stupid derp you typed in there slow boy.

@pulaski1 5 ай бұрын

I'd put it higher on the disaster scale because of the, effectively, _permanent_ contamination of the environment (ground/ ground water). "Monitoring" is neither mitigation nor remediation, it's just "keeping an eye on things" to reduce the risk of _humans_ being poisoned, but that does nothing for animals living in the area.

@MadScientist267 5 ай бұрын

Half of those solvents listed are too volatile to hang around incredibly long. Not all, but several.

@pulaski1 5 ай бұрын

@MadScientist267 The problem is that while some products are undoubtedly volatile, once poured on the ground they soak in and bind to rock and clay particles such that they are no longer able to evaporate into the atmosphere. That is why it is so difficult to remediate old gas/petrol station sites, where fuel has leaked into the ground, because, despite what people think, gasoline does not evaporate out of the ground that it has contaminated, at any significant rate. My employer's environmental arm has to deal with the consequences of this common misconception on a daily basis.

@Fandomsaremylifee 5 ай бұрын

Omg I did a whole report about the Valley of the Drums for my sustainable science class!! Let’s see if you were able to find more sources bc I could only find like three academic ones

@dozaarchives2225 5 ай бұрын

This is the world of no regulation where industry does what it wants.

@shawnbottom4769 5 ай бұрын

But, but....Productivity! Profit! Progress! GDP bragging rights!

@user-cw3wm9lx7w 5 ай бұрын

but profit, think of the poor CEO whi cannot get his second mega yacht. (s)

@drowningnixis 5 ай бұрын

John, I can't remember if you have done a video on Duke Energy's coal ash spill into the Dan River, NC, USA. Also in NC, there was an explosion in Raleigh/Garner at a Slim Jim factory that killed at least one contractor.

@PlainlyDifficult 5 ай бұрын

Thanks for the suggestions I’ll have dig

@RT-qd8yl 5 ай бұрын

A Slim Jim factory is one of those things you don't generally think about exploding. 😮

@grmpEqweer 5 ай бұрын

An explosion at a sausage plant? Who knew?

@macaylacayton2915 5 ай бұрын

I was hoping he would cover NC superfund sites at some point, NCSU is at least near one

@shereesmazik5030 5 ай бұрын

@@PlainlyDifficultIt will be perfect for your sense of humor, imagine the possibilities!

@colchronic 5 ай бұрын

Do the san jacinto waste pits there's hardly any content on the internet about it aside from just aerial photographs and videos and I live pretty close to it actually I live about 45 mi away and every time I drive over the I-10 bridge it just smells like cancer

@PlainlyDifficult 5 ай бұрын

Thanks for the suggestion!

@wheelmanv 5 ай бұрын

4:52 One crazy trick the epa doesn't want you to know

@jimsvideos7201 5 ай бұрын

Good on you John, these are always a treat to watch.

@firstbradley3281 5 ай бұрын

He said the line!!!!!

@PlainlyDifficult 5 ай бұрын

@macaylacayton2915 5 ай бұрын

Roll credits

@plisskenationbackfromthede3657 5 ай бұрын

This is pretty much just like the toxic waste dump that john candy got assigned to in armed and dangerous

@klatubaradanikto 5 ай бұрын

The North Hollywood Dump in Memphis was Tennessee’s first superfund site. It was big news in the early 80’s when we moved here. I visited the site recently & tried to do some online research but didn’t find much. Some day I may go to my local library & dig up the articles. Unsurprisingly, it is not hard to access & people are still dumping there despite it being closed in 1967.

@Neslakim 5 ай бұрын

What fun to hear a cameo from TheGamerFromMars. It really surprised me.

@PlainlyDifficult 5 ай бұрын

😬

@TheTeeTwo 5 ай бұрын

Perhaps the "BT Kemi" incident in Sweden could be of interest to cover? A fair bit of illegal dumping of chemicals involved.

@Lys1998 5 ай бұрын

Yes! Basically our biggest chemical dumping scandal

@blablah127 5 ай бұрын

Love the change in subject, it’s kinda wild how little regulation there was back then.

@PlainlyDifficult 5 ай бұрын

I know it’s crazy right!

@solandri69 5 ай бұрын

When I lived in Fullerton as a kid, the big one was the McColl dump site (petroleum dump, so not as potent a chemical cocktail) just after it had been declared a SuperFund site. A friend did his science fair project on it. He climbed over the fence, collected some of the soil from the site, and grew plants in it, using soil from his backyard as a control. The control plants grew to nearly 2 ft tall by the time of the science fair. The dump site plants looked like green twigs someone had stuck into dirt.

@user-cw3wm9lx7w 5 ай бұрын

Fullerton, California? near my home

@1978garfield 4 ай бұрын

Wow, your science fairs were way more bad ass than mine. We had to submit a safety statement detailing what we were going to do and that it would not cause harm to people or vertebrate animals. At the point "climb the fence into the toxic waste dump" was read the experiment would have been rejected.

@stefanschneider3681 5 ай бұрын

We had a similar situation here in Switzerland (Sondermülldeponie Kölliken). They dumped waste of the chemical industry there in the 50's and 60's, near where now the Autobahn between Zurich and Bern runs. It was discovered in the 80's and became one of largest and most costly projects ever undertaken. For almost 15 years you could see a huge tent-like building there when driving by. Inside they excavated, tested, separated and securely removed every single ton of soil in an air-tight space, always aware of the fact that there is a risk of it all blowing up due to unknown substances. It all went well, it's now is a nice green area. But Switzerland too learnt the hard way: Waste doesn't disappear as soon as it is out of sight!

@donaldlyons537 5 ай бұрын

Great job as always ! Hadn't heard of this. My brother lives in southern Indiana not too far from Louisville. But hasn't been there as far back as this disaster. Get well soon...

@sullivanrachael 5 ай бұрын

The blinkers worn by AL Taylor must have been incredible. He must have been accidentally splashed with poisonous or carcinogenic materials many times. Admittedly in the period waste dumping was simply a matter of discharging the waste into the environment - it was simply a case of making sure nobody noticed it. I read somewhere he employed other people - the site was registered to AL Taylor and Associates. I also read some of the drums had rifle or shotgun strike holes; my guess is he’d start a small fire near some drums of flammable chemicals, shoot at them from a ‘safe’ distance and the resulting leaks would catch fire. Sounds like a lazy fun way to remotely open drums of toxic material. I dare say he kidded himself that having ‘burns’ was a good way to dispose of his growing chemical nightmare. I wonder if his death was a result of being exposed to his dirty chemical cocktail?

@jacekatalakis8316 5 ай бұрын

Now we need companion videos about Kin-Buck Landfill and the whole saga around that

@terrisomers7843 5 ай бұрын

I worked in the wastewater treatment plant for that site for a couple of years. It was such a delightful smelling place. (Sarcasm here 😉)

@darkwing3713 5 ай бұрын

Here's some pointers to information about two Super Fund situations that both involve plutonium: the Death Mile at Hanford, and a book called Full Body Burden by Kristen Iversen. Also, I remember hearing a story on PBS years ago about a mine tailings site that Super Fund decided to cap and turn into a bike path - apparently without doing much clean up. People living near the bike path felt like they were being forced to police the area - having to tell strangers who had decided to camp (and go fishing) next to the bike path that the area was unsafe and toxic.

@Drhumbolt 5 ай бұрын

You should do a video on the Firestone superfund site in Noblesville indiana.

@Screamblade_ 5 ай бұрын

More content and learning. Thank you very much as always!!

@PlainlyDifficult 5 ай бұрын

My pleasure!

@pizzalover472 5 ай бұрын

Please please please do a video on the "Maya train" in Mexico disaster. Besides the destruction of the jungle environment to build it, the elevated structures started falling down less than a month after it started operation. Polluted and destroyed the underground water system and cenotes.

@kbuley 5 ай бұрын

Bullitt County is a treasure trove of stories... floods, hail storms, tornados, forest fires, and a looong history of train wrecks. The one on November 19, 1991 was caused by a garbage truck wedged under a viaduct and resulted in the collapse of the Salt River bridge as well as the evacuation of the town due to some of the cars carrying things like cluster bombs, methylene diphenyl diisocyanate, and propylene oxide. Growing up there was fun times.

@Space_Parrot 5 ай бұрын

What do the black and white vertically striped squares that appear in the top right corner of your videos mean? I've always wondered

@PlainlyDifficult 5 ай бұрын

It’s to let you know the adverts are coming

@macaylacayton2915 5 ай бұрын

@@PlainlyDifficultI never get adverts when they appear

@ManMountainMetals 5 ай бұрын

I was attacked by a wild advert behind my house once when I was a kid. I still limp a little in cold weather. @@macaylacayton2915

@Space_Parrot 5 ай бұрын

@@PlainlyDifficult Ah, I have YT Premium so I never see them lol

@ABrit-bt6ce 5 ай бұрын

Nice. Chris in an oddly warm Feburary.

@PlainlyDifficult 5 ай бұрын

Funnily enough today and yesterday weren't to bad weather wise

@SteveSmith-mu2fy 5 ай бұрын

My parents knew this guy. Once the writing was on the wall that he would be responsible for the mess, he called up everybody he could and asked if he could dump on them. My mom also says it's ironic that he was so "barrel shaped". I'm in Southern indiana about 45 minutes west of loo-a-vull.

@user-cw3wm9lx7w 5 ай бұрын

really?

@TheThora17 5 ай бұрын

So were there any consequences at all? Although the negligent and despicable owner of the company croaked, there must’ve been someone to inherit his shame of noncompliance??

@94eg8h-t4 5 ай бұрын

A.L. Taylor was basically a guy with some land, a dump truck and a little heavy equipment as I far as I've been able to tell. I know he had at least one guy working for him, but I doubt there was much more than that. There really wasn't much of a company per say.

@ManabiLT 5 ай бұрын

None. Kentucky's Department of Natural Resources did manage to track down the companies that produced about 70% of the waste and made them take it back, but no one was charged with a crime over any of it.

@ashoalcraft4404 5 ай бұрын

@@ManabiLT Thanks for that info - that was my big question after watching this video. The waste came from somewhere so there are more parties at fault here than just Taylor.

@skwervin1 5 ай бұрын

Could you look at the Beaconsfield Mine Disaster in Tasmania Australia which took place about 15 years ago?

@teshua 5 ай бұрын

Ah! Thank you John from S. London. You finally got to it, my friend. Virtually in my own "backyard". Bullet County KY.

@Soundbrigade 5 ай бұрын

Congratulations! Or maybe not … 🤔

@blameitonthewhiteguy 5 ай бұрын

Bullitt* 😂🤦🏻‍♂️

@schrodingerscat4737 5 ай бұрын

Oh, hey. I live just down the road from here.👊 Oh, wait. I live just down the road from here 😱

@blameitonthewhiteguy 5 ай бұрын

Sameeee 🥲

@schrodingerscat4737 5 ай бұрын

@@blameitonthewhiteguy hi neighbor! 👋

@ExcessEnergy 5 ай бұрын

I’m always fascinated how bad this was able to get, and how kids these days (I’m one of them) without seeing the documentation of things like this find it insane to believe.

@Peeta-wn4hh 4 ай бұрын

The part where it’s mentioned that Taylor simply dug a hole in the ground to get rid of toxic waste reminds me of the time I was working in the mining industry. One engineer said something to me I’ll never forget: Anyone can dig a hole in the ground, it’s making sure that hole doesn’t leak toxic waste into the water table that’s the challenge.

@kingcockroach. 5 ай бұрын

That intro is exactly how we need to see ourselves to better ourselves. But too few havethis oppinion

@matthewmiller669 5 ай бұрын

You should do a video covering in-situ vitrification (ISV). There have been a few superfund sites over the years that have used or tried the process, driving electrodes into the ground and melting it into one monolithic block to contain the contamination in place.

@katiekane5247 5 ай бұрын

Sounds interesting!

@hbhamilton3 5 ай бұрын

I work my part-time job on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and look forward to the latest Plainly Difficult video every Saturday afternoon. Thank you for all your hard work. Hope you get to 1M soon -- you deserve it!

@jimibaboza 5 ай бұрын

I kept expecting to someone to magically come forward as the owner of the site once most/all of the work had been done.

@antlerman7644 5 ай бұрын

I'm doing my waste management module in my final year of environmental science undergraduate! It's so interesting!

@pootispiker2866 4 ай бұрын

No way did I expect GFM to be in one of your videos! I heard his voice and thought "There's no chance that's him!"

@PlainlyDifficult 4 ай бұрын

it sure is!!

@SevenSixty2 4 ай бұрын

Put this video on before bed, and the abrupt cameo from another KZfaqr I enjoy definitely caught me off guard 🤣

@ajkleipass 5 ай бұрын

Hope you feel better quickly. We're getting into rollercoaster season here in Missouri: snow and temps in the teens (⁰F) one day, sun and temps in the 60s F a few days later, then cold and raw again. Rinse & repeat. 🥶

@deeh5558 2 ай бұрын

Thank you for bringing attention to superfunds. I grew up in one, my siblings, myself and many people I went to school with have been afflicted with health problems such as cancers, fertility issues, and children with “rare” birth defects, and high levels of developmental disorders. The level of contamination in the ground water cannot be remedied. Instead the area has a water treatment facility that dilutes the contaminated so that the contaminated are at acceptable tolerance levels.

@thejudgmentalcat 5 ай бұрын

For some reason mall vaporwave is the perfect soundtrack to today's ick episode 👌

@bigboio9673 5 ай бұрын

Great video once again John

@PlainlyDifficult 5 ай бұрын

Thank you

@boudicaastorm4540 Ай бұрын

Omg Mr. Difficult, you did a fundraiser for OCD? I've had severe OCD all my life. I'm subbing. Thank you 👍

@PlainlyDifficult Ай бұрын

Thank you! I know your pain!

@MikeHunt2053 5 ай бұрын

Thank you for highlighting superfund sites! Perhaps forever chemicals could be another topic to tell?

@TrondBrgeKrokli 5 ай бұрын

John, best of luck to you with your recovery from the cold, I know from personal experience that it can be quite slow, but we will get there. (Wishes of speedy recovery seem a bit futile to me these days.) Anyway, thank you for the video and for referencing the previous ones. I will have a look now that I know about it. Looking forward to the end of winter for each day that passes by.

@mattcookeco 5 ай бұрын

You should do a video on the Bumpass Cove superfund site, was a liquid chemical incinerator facility, incinerator quit working but they kept taking in chemicals clandestinely for years before getting caught for dumping them in the ground. As a bonus, the Erwin/NFS superfund site is just a few miles away has had multiple superfund remediations and safety incidents in its history and still processes nuclear materials for reactors

@Bellywellywoo 5 ай бұрын

I LOVE YOU MR PLAINLY DIFFICULT JOHN

@PlainlyDifficult 5 ай бұрын

Thank you!!

@cluerip 5 ай бұрын

I continue to watch these in rememberence of my late accident study and safety professor. (Also I keep your music on my main playlist)

@spinalobifida 5 ай бұрын

Georg Carlin said "The earth will shake us off like a bad case of fleas. A surface nuisance."

@Agamewriter 4 ай бұрын

Love the diagram indicating two sources of funds for the Superfund being, "Tax," and, "Government." So, taxes and taxes.

@nivlacgaming9211 5 ай бұрын

I was wondering why you sounded different lol Much love, stay awesome!

@scoreboardntlie 5 ай бұрын

I live in buffalo NY...fairly close to the love canal in niagara falls

@youramazingvulptexwife4180 5 ай бұрын

Oh sweet! I hear TGFM! Unexpected collab!

@xiaobiz 5 ай бұрын

This was a top-notch PD video. A++

@sierradavisdottir 5 ай бұрын

My moms friend worked on a cleanup effort of a similar project. It was a dumping ground for waste from paint production. He told me about how they got charged $xx,xxx per day that it wasn't mediated, but their firm just couldn't figure it out.

@mrfireball91 5 ай бұрын

Omg, didn't realize I worked close to this place! Moved to the area in 2006 and wasn't ever aware if it!

@seymoarsalvage 5 ай бұрын

Is that you who does the American voice on the reports? If so, spot on lol

@JohnMartin-cd1qm 5 ай бұрын

I've lived in Louisville my entire life and have never heard of the "Valley of the Drums". Curious now, short trip this weekend to find it!

@VICNASTY1989 5 ай бұрын

This is very reminiscent of Lipari Landfill in Mantua/ Pitman NJ, a struggling farmer began taking toxic waste from neighboring Philadelphia and local corporations between 1958-1971 causing major contamination to local communities

@vittekantilles4178 5 ай бұрын

Get well soon John!

@michaelalberts7609 5 ай бұрын

For the Bingo Card, which I'm glad you came up with, perhaps you could a Free Space in the center, labeled "SHEER GREED". Definitely would be on every card!

@bsadewitz 4 ай бұрын

Or maybe "F*CK IT!"

@rf159a 5 ай бұрын

I know of 2 Super Fund sites in South Jersey. I actually worked on one of them. The Army Corps of Engineers was in charge of the site.

@terrisomers7843 5 ай бұрын

Which ones? I've worked on a few in NJ, myself.

@jimlatosful 5 ай бұрын

I learned recently that I live literally down the street from a former superfund site in Michigan 😅

@martinj.groenewegen1791 5 ай бұрын

Killer work, dude.

@wesrrowlands8309 5 ай бұрын

We have a couple of superfund sites in PA too, I think one place near us was one or nearly was it was so bad. It was empty for decades before it got taped off and cleaned up.

@christophergay4341 5 ай бұрын

You should look into the cold water creek mess in St Louis Missouri. It ties into a lot of messes around st Louis

@nameless5413 5 ай бұрын

I also think that the jacktoposition of "love canal" being abhorrent chemical waste spill is just good name, eye-catching and memorable. Many disasters of valey of drum level happen all the time tho, there are chemical plants who just never seem to care about their emissions and impact they have in their immediate vicinity, even my nation had one (it bancrupted few times but in 90s whenever year went by without it being mentioned as having yet anoher bloody spill it was strange.

@adamcopelin5385 5 ай бұрын

Oh sweet, a local to me disaster.

@BarryChumbles 5 ай бұрын

I can't believe you managed to get a genuine American to do the voice over - that can't have been cheap!

@MightyMezzo 5 ай бұрын

I’ve done some hiking in Almaden Quicksilver Park, a combination Santa Clara county park and Superfund site.

@brianwheeler7949 5 ай бұрын

As always, an awesome video. It hits close to home since I grew up about 1/4 mile from the Seymour Recycling Corp Superfund site -- before, during, and after remediation. Sadly, I did not acquire super powers from the experience. Videos like this serve as a reminder to those who just take the EPA for granted and they are much appreciated.