A new environmental documentary has viewers deeply shaken after revealing an underwater toxic waste disaster just off the coast of California that was hidden for decades. "Out of Plain Sight" premiered to a sold-out crowd at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, highlighting the alarming discovery of up to 25,000 barrels of toxic chemicals dumped near Los Angeles over half a century ago, the Guardian reported.
A recent post from the Los Angeles Times' Entertainment section on Instagram (@latimes_entertainment) describes the documentary as "a cinematic expansion of a series of haunting reports by environmental journalist Rosanna Xia." The film explores how Xia, a reporter for the paper, broke the story in 2020 after receiving a tip from UCSB scientist David Valentine.
The documentary reveals the persistent environmental damage from DDT, a harmful pesticide banned decades ago in the U.S., as shared by the L.A. Times on Instagram. Its toxic legacy still continues today, with warning signs about contaminated fish on local piers, compromised immune systems, and concerning links to breast cancer across multiple generations.
"I have spent years unraveling a toxic mystery that the ocean had buried for generations, and this story was begging to be told more visually — with a more profound exploration of how the horrors of our past continue to affect us and our future," said Xia in a recent Times article about the film.
This ocean dumping represents one of America's largest environmental cover-ups, with chemicals leaching into marine ecosystems for over 70 years, per CBS News. Unlike land-based pollution, which can often be seen and addressed, underwater toxic waste remains largely invisible to the public.
The good news is that increased awareness has sparked action. Organizations like Heal the Bay monitor coastal water quality and advocate for clean water policy throughout Southern California, while the EPA has begun surveying the full extent of the underwater dump site for ongoing evaluation.
Several of the Instagram post comments lamented the frequency of such environmental disasters, with one sharing, "They did the same with nuclear waste in the U.K. or France."
One commenter noted the importance of speaking truth to power when it comes to environmental reporting and advocacy: "Thank you for this. This keeps me up at night. Really it does, but documentaries and research and truth tellers can spread the word."
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