Woodstock Investigation Unravels Startling Details

News website Sonicnet.com has stirred up some more disturbing news involving Woodstock '99.

Their investigation shows that not only was water not sufficient and plentiful during the festival, but the entire site was polluted with toxic wastes.

Many factors involved in Woodstock '99 made it an event that many will never forget.

There were two fans, Frank Cooper, 31, of St. Petersburg, Fla. and David G. Derosia, of Waterbury, Conn. who died of heat exhaustion following the festival. Most of the trouble and horrific endings evolved from the lack of water supply for hundreds of thousands of fans that attended the three-day festival.

Problems didn't stop there. Riots took place as angered fans physically expressed their feelings about the water shortage. Though they were dismissed by promoters and local officials as a few individuals who caused trouble, graffiti messages condemning the fest as "Profit$tock" suggested that at least some of the rioters had a more high-minded motive for their actions.

Temperatures of over 34 degrees Celsius combined with very little shade caused concertgoers to bake in the sun all day.

"There's plenty of free water. Try to keep cool," festival co-promoter John Scher told the crowd from the stage on that Saturday. Apparently, all was easier said than done. Broken fountains, damaged pipes and water outages were the main reasons for the lack of water. It had gotten so bad that people were drinking water right out of these burst pipes. Water stations had to be closed down for hours at a time to fix the numerous problems that existed.

What else could make this festival unforgettable for the wrong reasons? How about hanging out for three days on a toxic waste site? The former Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome, NY, where Woodstock took place, has been designated as one of the worst hazardous waste sites in the country by the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund program since 1987.

The site contains groundwater and soil contaminated with toxic chemicals. It was said that concertgoers would face little or no health risk from them. The problem was, Woodstock promoters and local officials failed to mention that fans were paying $150 to camp out at a Superfund site.

Woodstock co-promoter Michael Lang said in an email to Sonicnet.com, "We were told that hundreds of thousands of dollars have been poured into the [site] since 1984 to rectify the situation. We were assured the waste issue was already mediated and the concertgoers were not in danger and did not come in contact with any areas that were questionable."

Woodstock '99 producers Michael Lang, Ossie Kilkenny and John Scher have addressed the investigation and sonicnet.com wrote about the festival and the toxic chemical situation.

The online news service has been accused of unfair and biased reporting. Dr. Philip Vuocolo, the Woodstock '99 Medical Director, claimed, "Clearly, my quote was misinterpreted and/or changed for purposes of sensationalism. It saddens me greatly that such a wonderful and safe event can be tainted or colored so negatively by such irresponsible journalism, capitalizing and concentrating on a few undesirable events caused by an extreme minority."

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, US Environmental Protection Agency and the NY State Department of Health all studied the documents from the Air Force pertaining to the toxicity site, which supposedly said that the area was suitable for a concert to be held there.

This research occurred prior to the dates of the concert.