"Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth” won the 2006 Academy Award for best documentary, put the former vice president in front of efforts to raise awareness of climate change—yet had limited impact on federal policies.

Actor-producer Mark Ruffalo is also trying to translate film into political activism with Friday’s theatrical release of his Dark Waters, based on lawyer Rob Bilott’s years-long fight to hold DuPont Co. accountable for chemical contamination that a West Virginia farmer believed was killing his cattle.

Ruffalo and Bilott, of Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP, want Dark Waters to spur public demand for action to control the chemical the movie focuses on, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), and the huge group of chemicals to which it belongs: per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Ruffalo called for regulation of PFAS at a House subcommittee hearing Nov. 19."

Pat Rizzuto, Tiffany Stecker, and Sylvia Carignan report for Bloomberg Environment November 21, 2019. [2]