Cullen Hoback’s investigative documentary “What Lies Upstream,” which premiered on Inauguration Day at the Slamdance Film Festival, couldn’t be more timely. The detective story takes a look at the largest chemical drinking water contamination in a generation and the failed regulatory framework that created a loss of clean water for hundreds of thousands of Americans.
But while the drinking water element is important, the film goes further and investigates the alarming implications for the future of science and reason in America under Donald Trump. A clip from the doc shows how Trump has appointed Myron Ebell, a top climate skeptic and lobbyist who made his fortune from ExxonMobil, Dow Chemical and the tobacco industry, to shape the entire future of the Environmental Protection Agency.
With “What Lies Upstream,” Hoback hopes to show the perils of “innocently believing [that] government organizations and corporations will take care of the human species” and what will happen to our regulatory system and science in an America run by our new US president.
The documentary features interviews with Dr. Marc Edwards, Dr. Rahul Gupta, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, Randy Huffman, Dr. David Lewis, Maya Nye and Dr. Andrew Whelton.
Check out the clip below.
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