6 ms·

Very strange to me that the name of the responsible company (Montrose Chemical Corporation) is nowhere to be found in this article.

throwawayfrauds 5y ago
Also the very vocal anti-environmentalist company CEO Samuel Rotrosen is barely mentioned. Montrose executives were basically exaggerated movie villains in their defense of dumping DDT. Unapologetic doesn’t begin to cover it.
- querez 5y ago
  I've tried googling for Samuel Rotrosen, but came up with almost nothing. If I had to guess, then someone payed (a lot of) money to scrub this name off the internet. It's pretty creepy, but also impressive what you can do if you're determined.
  - the_lonely_road 5y ago
    This guy had an article posted in the New York Times in 1972...I am pretty confident he was not scrubbed from the internet and was instead just dead before the internet and no one has cared enough about him to add much content. Note that the New York Times article was the first search returned on Google for me, so not very hidden.
    - nanna 5y ago
      https://www.nytimes.com/1972/09/17/archives/ddt.html https://www.nytimes.com/1972/09/17/archives/ddt.html
stinos 5y ago
Excatly. And that there's no mention of possible legal consequences. Or perhaps even a plan to do something about it (if that is even possible).
- sva_ 5y ago
  Well there is some: > “This mission confirms my worst fear: that possibly hundreds of thousands of barrels and DDT-laced sediment were dumped just 12 miles off our coast,” said Feinstein, who said she plans to ask the U.S. Justice Department to look into companies that may have illegally dumped waste into the ocean and whether they can be held accountable Sounds pretty hand-wavey though.
  - philsnow 5y ago
    If it were Feinstein's "worst fear", why did California not investigate earlier? She's been a senator for almost 30 years.
- usaphp 5y ago
  On the company wiki page it says: "In December 2000, the Montrose Chemical Corporation of California and three other corporations settled their lawsuits for a collective $73 million."
- rasz 5y ago
  I bet they will work out a plan for another "20 years of meetings and extensive studies"
dls2016 5y ago
Let’s say it again, friends: the justice system is designed to protect capital.
- pretext 5y ago
  Laws are like Cobwebs which may catch small Flies, but let Wasps and Hornets break through. © Jonathan Swift
- throwaway0a5e 5y ago
  The system is built to protect the system. It only protects capital so much as the state has a vested interest in the stability of any particular grouping of capital.
  - dls2016 5y ago
    I will drink to that.
  - xxpor 5y ago
    Agreed, but there's been a major project since 1968 to ensure that capital generally is big enough that it's more important to protect its interests than poor people's. That's the entire purpose of the Federalist Society and fusionism. That's why Donald Trump was actually in a way the most establishment candidate in 2016, he was the first to recognize that traditional fusionism is dead with declining religiosity in the US, now instead of the religious right/libertarian fusion you have the white grievance/nationalist/libertarian fusion instead. Unfortunately, the new fusion is essentially proto-fascism.
- Guthur 5y ago
  And as usual for HN you are being unhelpfully reductive to up push the "capital bad boo hoo, something something". Just like with the soviet destruction of Aral sea to produce cash crops, in turn sacrificing 14% of its fish stock, it's usually short sight political decisions. The politician needs to look successful today and no one will pin the consequences on them in 10 to 15 years time. There are systemic issues and most of comes from these politicians that are driven primarily by their own ambition rather than the corporation of all concerned to bring quality outcomes.
nixpulvis 5y ago
I read the referenced LA Times article, which seemed to do a good job going over the history.
- glenneroo 5y ago
  The referenced article has 13 mentions of Montrose: https://www.latimes.com/projects/la-coast-ddt-dumping-ground/ https://www.latimes.com/projects/la-coast-ddt-dumping-ground...

throwawayfrauds 5y ago

Also the very vocal anti-environmentalist company CEO Samuel Rotrosen is barely mentioned. Montrose executives were basically exaggerated movie villains in their defense of dumping DDT. Unapologetic doesn’t begin to cover it.

querez 5y ago
I've tried googling for Samuel Rotrosen, but came up with almost nothing. If I had to guess, then someone payed (a lot of) money to scrub this name off the internet. It's pretty creepy, but also impressive what you can do if you're determined.
- the_lonely_road 5y ago
  This guy had an article posted in the New York Times in 1972...I am pretty confident he was not scrubbed from the internet and was instead just dead before the internet and no one has cared enough about him to add much content. Note that the New York Times article was the first search returned on Google for me, so not very hidden.
  - nanna 5y ago
    https://www.nytimes.com/1972/09/17/archives/ddt.html https://www.nytimes.com/1972/09/17/archives/ddt.html

stinos 5y ago

Excatly. And that there's no mention of possible legal consequences. Or perhaps even a plan to do something about it (if that is even possible).

sva_ 5y ago
Well there is some: > “This mission confirms my worst fear: that possibly hundreds of thousands of barrels and DDT-laced sediment were dumped just 12 miles off our coast,” said Feinstein, who said she plans to ask the U.S. Justice Department to look into companies that may have illegally dumped waste into the ocean and whether they can be held accountable Sounds pretty hand-wavey though.
- philsnow 5y ago
  If it were Feinstein's "worst fear", why did California not investigate earlier? She's been a senator for almost 30 years.
usaphp 5y ago
On the company wiki page it says: "In December 2000, the Montrose Chemical Corporation of California and three other corporations settled their lawsuits for a collective $73 million."
rasz 5y ago
I bet they will work out a plan for another "20 years of meetings and extensive studies"

dls2016 5y ago

Let’s say it again, friends: the justice system is designed to protect capital.

pretext 5y ago
Laws are like Cobwebs which may catch small Flies, but let Wasps and Hornets break through. © Jonathan Swift
throwaway0a5e 5y ago
The system is built to protect the system. It only protects capital so much as the state has a vested interest in the stability of any particular grouping of capital.
- dls2016 5y ago
  I will drink to that.
- xxpor 5y ago
  Agreed, but there's been a major project since 1968 to ensure that capital generally is big enough that it's more important to protect its interests than poor people's. That's the entire purpose of the Federalist Society and fusionism. That's why Donald Trump was actually in a way the most establishment candidate in 2016, he was the first to recognize that traditional fusionism is dead with declining religiosity in the US, now instead of the religious right/libertarian fusion you have the white grievance/nationalist/libertarian fusion instead. Unfortunately, the new fusion is essentially proto-fascism.
Guthur 5y ago
And as usual for HN you are being unhelpfully reductive to up push the "capital bad boo hoo, something something". Just like with the soviet destruction of Aral sea to produce cash crops, in turn sacrificing 14% of its fish stock, it's usually short sight political decisions. The politician needs to look successful today and no one will pin the consequences on them in 10 to 15 years time. There are systemic issues and most of comes from these politicians that are driven primarily by their own ambition rather than the corporation of all concerned to bring quality outcomes.

nixpulvis 5y ago

I read the referenced LA Times article, which seemed to do a good job going over the history.

glenneroo 5y ago
The referenced article has 13 mentions of Montrose: https://www.latimes.com/projects/la-coast-ddt-dumping-ground/ https://www.latimes.com/projects/la-coast-ddt-dumping-ground...