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Hinkley groundwater contamination
From 1952 to 1966, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) dumped about 370 million U.S. gallons (1.4×109 liters) of chromium-tainted wastewater into unlined wastewater spreading ponds around the town of Hinkley, California, located in the Mojave Desert about 120 miles (190 kilometers) north-northeast of Los Angeles.[1][2]
PG&E used chromium 6, or hexavalent chromium (a cheap and efficient rust suppressor), in its compressor station for natural-gas transmission pipelines.[1][3] Hexavalent-chromium compounds are genotoxic carcinogens.
In 1993, legal clerk Erin Brockovich began an investigation into the health impacts of the contamination. A class-action lawsuit about the contamination was settled on July 2, 1996 for $333 million (around $634 million in 2023). In 2008, PG&E settled the last of the cases involved with the Hinkley claims. Since then, the town's population has dwindled to the point that in 2016 The New York Times described Hinkley as having slowly become a ghost town.[4][5]
- ^ a b "The 'Erin Brockvich effect': How media shapes toxics policy" (PDF). Environs. 26 (2): 219–32. 2003.
- ^ Heath, David (3 June 2013), "Erin Brockovich's Biggest Debunker, Debunked: A closer look finds serious flaws in the research of a scientist trying to disprove an infamous California cancer cluster", Center for Public Integrity via Mother Jones, retrieved 13 April 2013
- ^ Welkos, Robert W. (12 March 2000), Digging for the Truth: With tensions over accuracy in film running high, 'Erin Brockovich' pays attention to real-life detail, retrieved 13 April 2013
- ^ Lovett, Ian (23 January 2016). "Gas Leak in Los Angeles Has Residents Looking Warily Toward Flint". New York Times. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
- ^ Steinberg, Jim (March 18, 2015). "Hinkley continues to shrink: Desert town set to lose only market, gas station, Post Office".
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