I&#x27;m all for that - but in this case the government was asleep at the wheel. If that happens, is one of the only ways to (empirically) fight back the kindness of a single professor?<p>To keep this constructive, here are other options to have blown the whistle sooner (assuming the state and federal govts are not a willing party):<p>- Area residents call in the press with pictures, that forces the govt to change (which it didn&#x27;t seem worked well here, even with those pictures)<p>- Find a single state representative (or several) who takes up the cause; get them to get some cash for an independent analysis<p>- A few area businesses get together when they start seeing financial issues from the water and fund an expert to come in (or area residents crowdfund for an expert with a GoFundMe-type campaign)<p>- Lawyers sensing a payday invest in an expert<p>- Call up the local university (or in this case, get the interest of a far off uni)<p>I&#x27;m hardly going to do a good brainstorm in an HN thread (especially without more reflection), but you get the idea. Assume the state and federal governments (executive branch) are not a willing party, what are a bunch of things you do to get an independent expert to run an empirically sound analysis sooner? (and without taking out a personal mortgage)