West Plains, 'forever chemicals'--to date

January 4, 2024

Happy New Year everybody

I’m recovering from Covid this week and should be back up to speed in a few days (knock on wood). In the meantime, I’m updating (below) the inventory of my pieces on the West Plains “forever chemicals” investigation, including the most recent article examining County Commissioner Al French’s role in undermining work toward an important “transport & fate” study on the spread of the dangerous substances that are contaminating West Plains groundwater/drinking water. As noted in the piece, French not only represents the West Plains on the county commission but has held and continues to hold key positions, including that as a board member for Spokane International Airport. As I’ve documented in my reporting, top SIA officials withheld key information about the presence of PFAS chemicals in the airport’s groundwater.

Because of the compelling public safety interest in the subject, I’m offering the intallments for free on the Rhubarb Salon companion to The Daily Rhubarb. If you’re reading this on Rhubarb Salon and would like to become a paying subscriber to support the project (and other work), you can do so here.

—tjc

•Al French and the “forever chemical” cover-up, (12/23/23)

•A progress report on the West Plains “forever chemical” investigation, (12/10/23)

•What a Seattle Times investigation reveals about the poisoned groundwater west of Spokane (10/31/23)

•The Spokane Airport’s word bomb response to disclosure of its PFAS contamination problem (10/13/23)

•The state’s wake-up call for Spokane International Airport’s water pollution problem (8/23/23)

•The trouble Spokane's airport may face for not disclosing its contaminated groundwater problem (8/15/23)

•Rough Landing (7/09/23)

•Robert Bilott, and “Exposure,” the story of a historic civil suit against DuPont for PFAS contamination. (06/27/23)

•A primer on the notorious, synthetic chemical that contaminates drinking water from coast to coast. (06/22/23)

•Scoping the “forever chemical” story on the West Plains (6/04/23)