Resources – Pine River Superfund Citizen Task Force

This section of the website contains information and in some cases copies or links to books, films, photos, and documents related to the work of the Task Force. It also has a section with descriptions and definitions of names and terms related to the region’s environment, health, economy and history. The photos in this section and many older documents are in subfiles.

BOOKS:

There are many books related to environmental health, however we want to bring to your attention seven related to the PBB accident, health consequences, and the efforts to remediate sites contaminated by Velsicol:

Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1962)

Edwin Chen, PBB: An American Tragedy (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1979)

Thomas H. Corbett, Cancer and Chemicals (Chicago: Nelson Hall, 1977), pp. 121-145

Joyce Egginton, The Poisoning of Michigan (New York: W.W. Norton, 1980) [republished by Michigan State University Press in 2009]

Frederic Halbert and Sandra Halbert, Bitter Harvest (Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans, 19y8)

Jane Keon, Tombstone Town (Creative Space, 2015)

Edward Lorenz, Civic Empowerment in an Age of Corporate Greed (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2012)

FILMS: There are several films that focus on the PBB accident [we have found all of these can be viewed on the Web]:

Bitter Harvest (Charles Fries Production, 1981)

The Poisoning of Michigan (Thames Television, 1977)

Slaughter (an episode from November 1978 of the Lou Grant Show on CBS)

ENVIRONMENTAL BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE, PARENTS, AND TEACHERS:

We want to suggest some books, often in electronic editions, that can help prepare young people to put the environmental and health challenges of the region into perspective. We hope teachers and parents will try to have youth read these so they are prepared to help confront the problems we have left for them:

Michael Foreman, One World (London: Andersen Press, 2012) Grades 2-4

Laurie Lawlor, Rachel Carson and Her Book That Changed the World Paperback (New York: Holiday House, 2014) Grades 1-4 NOTE: Velsicol Chemical targeted Rachel Carson for attack, threatening a major lawsuit if Silent Spring were published.

Julian Lennon, Heal the Earth (New York: Sky Pony Press, 2018) Pre-school-K

Julian Lennon, Touch the Earth (New York: Sky Pony Press, 2017) Pre-school -K

Stephanie Sisson, Spring After Spring: How Rachel Carson Inspired the Environmental Movement (New York: Roaring Brook Press, 2018) Grades 1-2 NOTE: Velsicol Chemical targeted Rachel Carson for attack, threatening a major lawsuit if Silent Spring were published.

Dr. Seuss, The Lorax (New York: Random House,1971) Grades K-4

YOUNG ADUT ENVIRONMENTAL NOVELS AND BIOGRAPHIES:

Karen Ball, Hazardous Homestead (Wheaton, Il: Tyndale House, 1992) Grades 4-6

Chris Barry, Mosquito Point (New York: Royal Fireworks Press,1996) Grades 7-9

Virginia Bergin, H2O (Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks, 2014) Grades 8-12

Varda Burstyn, Water, Inc. (Brooklyn: Verso, 2005) Grades 9-Adult

Mark, Delaney, Misfits, Inc. No. 4: The Kingfisher’s Tale (Atlanta: Peachtree, 2000) Grades 5-9

Gail Gauthier, Saving the Planet & Stuff (New York: G.P. Putnam, 2003) Grades 7-9

Jean Craighead George, The Case of the Missing Cutthroats (New York: Harper Collins, 1999) Grades 3-7

Diane Haynes, Flight or Fight (Toronto: Walrus Books, 2006) Grades 7-11

Greta Thunberg, One Too Small to Make a Difference (New York: Penguin Books, 2019) Many formats

PHOTOS: See photo subfile.

NAMES AND TERMS: We have a subfile with explanations and definitions of names and terms you may not be familiar with unless you live in St. Louis or work on other remediations.

DOCUMENTS:

First, we list some documents for which we are in the process of adding links. These are documents that are permanently important to understanding our work and mentioned elsewhere in the web-site. In a subfile called our Document Archive are actual copies of documents from the first 12 years of the Task Force’s work.

US EPA maintains a website with much current past information, including many documents related to their work in St. Louis and at other sites across the nation related to Velsicol. For documents related to the plant site in St. Louis, go to: VELSICOL CHEMICAL CORP. (MICHIGAN) | Superfund Site Profile | Superfund Site Information | US EPA

There is a collection of health studies at the PBB Registry’s website on the Emory University, Rollins school of Public Health system. To access these reports, go to: Research (emory.edu)

Below is a listing of the scanned documents in Document Archive (in groups of 4 for easy reading). The words before the colon are the titles you will see in the archive under each thumbnail image which will enlarge to show the whole document:

1993 Site Review: A report from ATSDR that waned of problems with the Velsicol site

001 CAG Presentation Given at MSU: a 2001 Power Point with good maps and photos

2001 Nuclear Report for Breckinridge: prepared by Alma College chemist Melissa Strait

2002 CAG Comments on Settlement: relates to bankruptcy of Fruit of the Loom

2002 CAG Ideas for Plant Site: brownfield redevelopment ideas

2002 Commercial Interests for Plant Site: brownfield development thinking

2002 TAG Letter to EPA: Nov. 22 comments from CAG on DNAPL problems

2003 Ariel Reference of the Pine River: shows river sediment monitoring sites

2003 CAG-Faith Letter: discusses leaking contaminants from Velsicol site

2003 Dog Death to Suspected Toxic Exposure: letter from Murray Borrello

2003 Draft Remediation Investigation Findings: DEQ report from Sept. 17

2003 Email to Scott in Regards to Feasibility Study: Oct. 24 from Sierra Club