Chemical+Valley

** Director: ** Mimi Pickering and Anne Lewis Johnson ** Release Year: **1991 ** What is the central argument or narrative of the film? **  The film begins by showing the background of the Bhopal disaster. It shows how the negligence of Union Carbide leads to the deaths of thousands of people. Then it goes into drawing comparisons between the disaster in India and the ongoing environmental tragedy in West Virginia. Even in someplace this is thought to be civilized and fair to its citizens there can still be great environmental injustice. ** Who are they key social actors and stakeholders in the film? **  At the beginning of the film the story of the villagers around the chemical plant in Bhopal India is told. These people had very little political and social power to resist the construction of the plant in the first plant, they also needed the jobs and economic stability the plant should have provided. When the gas leak happened, they also had very little power to fight Union Carbide for their rightful compensation. This is one reason that Union Carbide decided to build such a dangerous plant in that area. There was little risk of opposition to risky activities. In West Virginia, a similar situation was constructed with the town’s people around the plant, these are people with little political power. They also need the stability a large company would bring to the area. In the film there were clips of supporters of the plant in town, they were stating that the company has only helped the people. The people were desperate for the stability, some began to believe the propaganda the company was putting out about the dangers. ** What does the film convey about the matrix of the factors that contribute to our dependence on oil? **  The Union Carbide plant in West Virginia was used to produce pesticides. These are chemicals that are vital to a modern society. There is other solution to using petroleum products, in these case oil base pesticides. However the oil companies have become powerful enough to convince the nation that this is the best way to do things. They have set up a social system that makes it very difficult to use other products that are not strongly based in oil. This perceived dependence has lead towns and our entire society to overlook the dangers of such chemicals. ** What does the film convey about the matrix of problems caused by our dependence on oil? **  The executives at Union Carbide had a history of denying that there was any problem with the operation of the plant in West Virginia. There had been years of odor problems that the company denied that there was ever an odor coming from the plant. This denial continued into health concerns after people in the area began getting sick with cancer. This denial of safety concerns continued even during accidences at the plant. The company did not even sound the alarm when there was a significant leak of toxic gasses, 500 gallons. There was information that could have lessened peoples exposure to the dangerous chemicals that the plant managers did not tell the towns people. This lack of transparency in the petro chemical industry started during WWII, the U.S. government would place these plants in low cost areas. In such areas the people had less ability to fight possible dangerous practices. After the war the companies continued these practices siting that such chemical industry helped the nation be less dependent of foreign oil. This attitude continued, Union Carbide continued to take advantage of lower income people in West Virginia. In this case the company even built sections of the plant to make the town less attractive to lower real-estate values in the area. The people in the area have had very little power to fight such harmful decisions partly because of their low economic standing, also because of the historically great political power of the chemical companies. They spend significant amounts of money every year supporting politicians. This encourages politicians to fight legislation that could be detrimental to the industry, and no lasting changes are ever made. ** What parts of the film convey about the matrix of affects that would be mobilized by a shift away from oil? **  One of the main issues that are stopping a shift away from an oil based economy is the fact that people do not really know all the problems and dangers associated with the use of oil. There is a long history of propaganda and publicity to convince people that the petrochemical industry is there to solve all the world’s problems. This originated in the 1950’s when there was a great feeling of national pride and that the nation’s ingenuity could conquer any problem. The oil industry was another example of this ingenuity, new chemicals and materials were being created to raise people’s quality of life. This trend gave the industry a great deal of power, both politically and economically. Moving away from an oil based society would take drastic changes in attitude of the country. The political power would have to move away for wealthy oil companies and chemicals producers back to the wellbeing of the people. It was thought that the interests of the oil companies would go along with the interests of the public, which has been proven otherwise. ** What part of the film did you find most persuasive and compelling? **  There were a lot of similarities between the disaster in Bhopal and in West Virginia as the movie pointed out. Also there were many similarities with the oil spill from the Exxon-Valdes in Alaska. There are disasters in the oil industry and then the same deceptive sequence of events continues to happen. The companies will deny the negative health effects of being in exposed to such chemicals to save their reputation on a national scale. They look to get out of the spot light and cover up the short term consequences. The companies had become entirely focused on making a profit, they forgot the human cost to their business. This is not only restricted to the people in the immediate area of the plant, this includes the people that deal with oil through its life cycle. For some people these costs are more concentrates with very little of the benefits form the use of the products. The companies should recognize these consequences and work to alleviate or prevent these negative effects. This was a glaring example of people taking more than their share of the human cost of the use of oil products. ** What part of the film did you not find compelling or convincing? **   The film showed very well the different problems with the petro chemical industry, especially in Institute West Virginia. When executives from Union Carbide were confronted by these different problems it was amazing to hear their flawed and dishonest responses. One representative of Union Carbide said “if we don’t make those chemicals someone will”. He used this as a justification to their production of harmful chemicals. This is not a valid justification to their poor practices. They should be looking to do business in a safer and more health conscience manor that every other company. However that is not the path to profits in this country. People do not focus on the safety of a company only the profitability. ** What kind of corrective action are suggested by the film, if the film itself does not suggest a corrective action, describe actions that you can imagine being effective? **  These oil based products, in this case the pesticides produced by Union Carbide, are necessary in modern society at the present time. In the future alternative may be developed. The problem in the industry is not entirely in the toxicity of the chemicals but in the apathy of the companies to their surrounding community. Union Carbide fought the proposal that the company should pay for the construction of a new entrance ramp to the highway. This would be used in case of an incident at the plant, it would allow people to leave town without driving directly next to the plant. The company did not see the value in helping the community, they could not see the value in having a community which supported their presence. This attitude leads to a great deal of mistrust and anger form the residence of Institute. The company could have done a great deal for the safety with a little effort and acknowledging the fact that they are in a hazardous business. Several of changes towards helping the community in the case of a large or small accident would go a long way in gaining the trust of the people. ** What additional information has this film compelled you to seek out, provide two examples of what you learned? **  The chemical plants in Institute West Virginia are still producing chemicals for various industries. Recently there have been tensions in the area over the production of chemical methyl isocyanate (MIC). This is the same chemical that killed thousands of people in Bhopal India in 1984. The plant that is currently owned by Bayer CorpScience has been producing MIC for the past 40 years. This past summer the company invested $36 million into safety changes to the plant. Even with these changes the residents in the area are not convinced that the risks are being properly monitored. A judge has issued a restraining order on the plant’s startup date. This is to allow for more time to investigate the actual safety of the plant. []
 * Title: **Chemical Valley