"In 1975, workers at a small makeshift pesticide factory in Hopewell, Virginia became ill after exposure to Kepone, the brand name for a powdered version of the poison chlordecone. News of a few ill workers led to the discovery of mammoth, widespread environmental contamination of the nearby James River and the larger landscape of the small, working-class town. Dumping of the chemical had been going on for years. Workers at the plant-a converted gas...