Coal Tar: How Corrupt Politics and Corporate Greed Are Killing America's Children

Coal Tar: How Corrupt Politics and Corporate Greed Are Killing America's Children is a 2018 book by private investigator and wrongful conviction advocate Bill Clutter.^[1][2][3] In 1990, Clutter began investigating an epidemic of a rare childhood cancer called neuroblastoma in Taylorville, Illinois, after his law firm was hired to represent four families whose children had been diagnosed. Statistically, a case of neuroblastoma occurs one time every 29 years in a community the size of Taylorville. Four patients in Taylorville were diagnosed between March 1989 and August 1991. The cases were eventually linked to a local plant that was owned and operated by the Central Illinois Public Service Company until 1932. The land was later sold, but due to legislation enacted in 1980, CIPS was responsible for the cleanup of coal tar that was stored in underground tanks. CIPS did not disclose the existence of the tanks either during the sale or following the legislation. Their inaction set in motion of series of events that led to the contamination of groundwater with known carcinogens. The case ended with a $3.2 million jury verdict for the victims.^[4]