Testimony of a Plant Pathologist

·Where a regional airshed is contaminated with airborne toxicants, the plant communities will usually demonstrate the first significant changes in physiological activity and consequent physiologic damage. The environmental advocate must then establish that a substantial change in the physiological activity of the principal plant communities in a region that is causally related to the existence of specific levels of atmospheric contaminants in the regional airshed, which levels are the result of defendant’s operations, does in fact exist and that this condition should be considered an indication of and admissible evidence ofserious, permanent and irreparable damage to the Regional Environmental System of which the Regional Airshed is an element.

The plaintiff’s case against Hoerner-Waldorf primarily rested on substantial evidence of degradation of plant communities within the regional airshed in which Hoerner Waldorf had its mill located.

The plaintiff’s principal witness, and the prime mover behind the citizen concern for the mill emissions, was Professor Clarence C. “Clancy” Gordon of the University of Montana at Missoula. Dr. Gordon was a plant pathologist and the defendants demanded his deposition about the plant damage alleged by the plaintiffs.

The following commented transcript is taken from the unpublished version of Environmental Rights & Remedies in 1972.

At this point an issue was raised over whether a witness was required to disclose unpublished raw research data. The issue was eventually to be resolved during the final battle of the DDT War in Madison.