---
title: "Report: MIT Violated Law By Dumping Dangerous Chemicals"
description: "According to a report, researchers at the MIT Media Lab have been dumping toxic wastewater underground, thereby violating state environmental laws."
date: "2019-09-23"
modified: "2020-12-21"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/mit-violated-law-dumping-dangerous-chemicals"
categories:
  - "Environment"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "environmental crimes"
  - "environmental protection"
  - "mit"
  - "mit media lab"
  - "the digest"
---

# Report: MIT Violated Law By Dumping Dangerous Chemicals

![Arctic sea ice caps are influencing weather elsewhere.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/badwater-4549_1920.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: \<a href="https://pixabay.com/en/badwater-salt-pan-salt-lake-4549/" target="\_blank"\>Creative Commons\</a\>\</em\>*

## Total Dump

According to [documents obtained](<https://www.propublica.org/article/mit-media-lab-kept-regulators-in-the-dark-dumped-chemicals-in-excess-of-legal-limit>) by *ProPublica* and Boston-area radio station *WBUR*, researchers at MIT's Media Lab have been dumping toxic wastewater underground, violating state environmental laws and endangering local waterways, wildlife and even young children and pets.

"I took every action I could, to go through the right channels to address it," former MIT researcher Babak Babakinejad, who exposed the dumping, told *ProPublica**.* "I came to a point that I realized that the institution, apparently, has made a decision not to address this.”

## Trouble Brewing

The news comes after the MIT Media Lab came under fire earlier this month for [accepting millions](<https://www.cnet.com/news/mit-president-knew-about-those-jeffrey-epstein-donations/>) — and attempting to [hide the donations](<https://futurism.com/mit-hid-jeffrey-epstein-donations>) — from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Adding to the drama, the specific lab accused of dumping the wastewater is the MIT Media Lab's Open Agriculture Initiative, which was behind a much-hyped robotic agriculture project that was [called a scam](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/mit-robotic-agriculture-sham>) by employees earlier this month.

## Water Quality

In January, local regulators from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection started an inquiry into water quality. Since MIT was not able to hand over water quality reports, the department started an official investigation.

City wastewater treatment plants are usually able to handle those levels of nitrogen, but the water was dumped in a rural facility 20 miles north of MIT's main campus that lacks a public sewer system, as *ProPublica* points out.

**READ MORE:** [MIT Media Lab Kept Regulators in the Dark, Dumped Chemicals in Excess of Legal Limit](<https://www.propublica.org/article/mit-media-lab-kept-regulators-in-the-dark-dumped-chemicals-in-excess-of-legal-limit>) \[*ProPublica*\]

**More on MIT's Media Lab:** *[Report: MIT’s Much-Hyped Robotic Agriculture Project is a Sham](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/mit-robotic-agriculture-sham>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)