Pacific Gas and Electric Litigation
The case alleged contamination of drinking water with hexavalent chromium, also known as chromium (VI), in the southern California town of Hinkley. At the center of the case was a facility called the Hinkley Compressor Station, part of a natural gas pipeline connecting to the San Francisco Bay Area and constructed in 1952. Between 1952 and 1966, PG&E used hexavalent chromium to fight corrosion in the cooling tower. The wastewater dissolved the hexavalent chromium from the cooling towers and was discharged to unlined ponds at the site. Some of the wastewater percolated into the groundwater, affecting an area near the plant approximately 2 by 1 miles (3.2 by 1.6 km). The case was settled in 1996 for US$333 million, the largest settlement ever paid in a direct action lawsuit in US history. Brockovich's law firm received 133.6 million dollars of this settlement, and Brockovich herself received a two million dollar bonus from the action.
A study released in 2010 by the California Cancer Registry showed that cancer rates in Hinkley "remained unremarkable from 1988 to 2008." An epidemiologist involved in the study said that "the 196 cases of cancer reported during the most recent survey of 1996 through 2008 were less than what he would expect based on demographics and the regional rate of cancer."
Average Cr-6 levels in Hinkley were recorded as 1.19ppb with a peak of 3.09ppb. The PG&E Topock Compressor Station averaged 7.8ppb and peaks at 31.8ppb based on the PG&E Background Study. California's Public Health Goal (PHG), circa 2011, for hexavalent chromium is 0.02ppb.
Read more about this topic: Erin Brokovich
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