The Cyanide Canary

 

The Cyanide Canary, a true story, is very much akin to the Erin Brockovich story (movie with Julia Roberts in 2000, followed by the book in 2001). The Cyanide Canary was written and published in 2017 by Robert Dugoni and Joseph Hilldorfer. Dugoni is typically a writer of crime novels and murder mysteries. He’s published at least 30 books, and two of those have been reviewed in this blog. Joseph Hilldorfer is a EPA Special Agent who was directly and intimately involved with the investigation and prosecution of Allan Elias, the owner and CEO of Evergreen Resources in Soda Springs, Idaho.

 

The story is about the nearly fatal exposure to cyanide gas by 20-year-old laborer Scott Dominguez, and the denial of responsibility for the accident by Elias. The accident occurred in August 1996, and through delay tactics, the matter did not quickly come to trial, and even after Elias was found guilty of four counts of mismanagement of the toxic properties that his company managed (or mismanaged) in 1999, Mr. Elias was not sentenced for another year. Without the dedication of Special Agent Hilldorfer and his colleages at the EPA, as well as those at the Department of Justice, it is improbable that Mr. Dominguez would have ever received anything for the harm that was caused to him. Dominguez had suffered irreparable and severe brain damage and required round the clock care which obviously stressed his family and caused an end to the relationship with the woman who he planned to marry. Ultimately, Elias was ordered to pay $6 million for the injury to his employee and to clean up the contaminated work site. Although Elias was still in jail in 2017 when the book was published, Mr. Dominguez had yet to receive a penny for his injuries and the worksite had not been cleaned up.

 

The book addressed the lack of power of the EPA to actually prosecute executives who were clearly behind such tragedies, and the various legal techniques that were used to avoid punishment. This was a great book. Although it took the reader through many details of the events of the injuries and the defense tactics of the lawyers on behalf of Mr. Elias, it none the less was a page turner. Dugoni and Hilldorfer left the reader with the idea that the general public may never be safe from such dastardly deeds by men who value the mighty dollar over everything else.