EPA personnel are down, as are law enforcement activities; data shows that the 123 criminal cases opened in 2021 were barely a quarter of what they were 20 years earlier.
In December 1999, a headlight manufacturer named Guide Corp. in Anderson, Indiana, began dumping thousands of gallons of toxic waste into the White River, one of the state’s most important waterways.
Within days, massive amounts of dead fish began to accumulate along the course of the river. Ultimately, more than 4 million people would die in a 50-mile stretch from Anderson to Indianapolis, the largest fish kill in state history.