My Toxic Backyard

Katie Damien's documentary centers on a community in South Asheville, NC, where the drinking water is contaminated with deadly chemical runoff from a manufacturing plant that was abandoned decades ago. Although the Environmental Protection Agency has designated the former CTS Corporation plant a “Superfund” site—among the most toxic places in the U.S.—neither the EPA nor CTS has tried to contain the waste or provide safe drinking water to surrounding areas. In fact, the EPA documented high levels of the carcinogen trichloroethylene (TCE) but didn't inform residents for years, even as dozens died of cancer. Given that their drinking water and even the air itself were fatally toxic, locals expected a cleanup. But the EPA responded with community meetings that were apparently designed to pacify homeowners, and the agency recommended endless re-evaluation and testing. Some of those interviewed believe themselves to be under government surveillance; they talk about evidence that the EPA not only dropped the ball but also withheld information, tried to obscure the link between TCE and the old CTS facility, and generally knuckled under to a wealthy multinational corporation. Damien uses an animated aerial map to show a shocking number of local fatalities, pointing out that the area is still under development, with new housing going up and being marketed to unsuspecting retirees. Frightening, suspenseful, and saddening (as Damien notes, one in four Americans lives within four miles of a Superfund site), this sobering documentary is highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (M. Puffer-Rothenberg)