One Two Three

Although the story of Bourne is fictional, One Two Three accurately depicts a set of environmental practices and policies that often allow large corporations to exploit and victimize under-resourced communities; the products and production processes of such corporations often have the potential to cause environmental damage to the surrounding water supply, land, and people. That Belsum Chemical chooses the town of Bourne as the site for its plant is no accident. Rather, it is the product of what is often termed “NIMBY,” an acronym for “not in my backyard.” This acronym depicts the ability of wealthy areas to advocate, lobby, and legislate on their own behalf in order to avoid the construction of potentially damaging industry and infrastructure such as chemical plants, recycling and wastewater treatment facilities, and other facilities that have the potential to be environmentally hazardous. As a result, such facilities are typically located in economically depressed communities like Bourne that do not have the resources to advocate for themselves.

There are many examples of NIMBY policies at work, not only in the United States but also all over the world. One noteworthy example of the way that NIMBY harms under-resourced communities can be found in the proliferation of uranium mines near and within the boundaries of Indigenous lands in New Mexico. Although the entire area is rich with uranium deposits, wealthy communities have long been able to use their lobbying power and in-depth understanding of the legislative and judicial systems in order to ensure that such mines, which often pollute the surrounding groundwater, are not located near homes, schools, or commercial districts. However, communities that lack adequate access to money, knowledge, and legal representation cannot advocate on their own behalf, and in New Mexico, this has resulted in the overrepresentation of uranium mines in poor, mostly Indigenous communities. In 1979, for example, the Church Rock uranium mill spill resulted in 94 million gallons of radioactive waste emptying into the Puerco River, which runs through the Navajo Nation in northwestern New Mexico and northern Arizona. Children played in the contaminated water and people and livestock drank it, and over time, these communities began to experience above-average rates of cancer, miscarriages, and a host of other illnesses.

The Manhattan Project’s Trinity Testing is another key example of NIMBY at work, for the testing of the atomic bomb did not take place in an isolated area, but rather inside of the Tularosa Basin, a region of New Mexico that is home to nearly half a million people, most of which are of Indigenous and Latino heritage. Although very much aware of the potential dangers of the test, the US government did not warn or evacuate the local populace, and in the years following the testing, there were higher-than-normal rates of cancer, heart disease, unexplained illness, and congenital abnormalities. The Manhattan Project created an ongoing health crisis that the US government has yet to fully acknowledge its responsibility in perpetrating. Like Frankel’s fictional Nora and the citizens of Bourne, the “downwinders” (as the New Mexicans whose homes and communities were downwind of the Trinity blasts have come to call themselves) have long sought recognition and compensation, but the legal progress has been slow, and so far, those impacted by the testing have not been compensated.

A more recent example of the NIMBY phenomenon can be found in the Hinkley Groundwater Contamination Scandal, which became the basis for the 2000 film Erin Brockovich; the real-life town of Hinkley experienced many of the hardships that befall the fictional town of Bourne. Hinkley is a small community in Southern California’s Mojave Desert, where utility company Pacific Gas and Electric has long operated a natural gas pumping station. During the 1950s and early 1960s, the company used a chemical called chromium 6 at the station, and it leaked into the water supply, sickening the town’s residents at an alarming rate. This environmental disaster resulted in a plethora of health issues similar to those faced by Frankel’s characters in One Two Three, and just like with Nora’s lawsuit, the town’s attempts to hold Pacific Gas and Electric accountable were met with difficulty. Although the town did ultimately receive a settlement, the impact of the original contamination persists, and the public health crisis is ongoing.