When I hear the name, Erin Brokovich, unfortunatley I automatically think of how hot the academy award winning actress Julia Roberts looked in the movie with that name as the title. What one should know of the name, Erin Brokovich, is how hard she fought for the hundreds of families effected by PG&E water contamination in southern California. Because of her relentless pursuit of justice, the plaintiffs were awarded $333 million to which she received $2 million in bonuses.
Why? PG&E’s Compressor Station is located approximately two miles southeast of the town of Hinkley and a dozen miles west of Barstow in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County. Between 1952 and 1966, PG&E used hexavalent chromium, also known as chromium 6, to fight corrosion in cooling tower water. The wastewater from the cooling towers was discharged to unlined ponds at the site. Some of the wastewater percolated to the groundwater, resulting in hexavalent chromium pollution. The chromium affects an area of groundwater approximately two miles long and nearly a mile wide. - http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/rwqcb6/water_issues/projects/pge/index.shtml Hexavalent chromium pollution is a serious health hazard. It can cause tumors, many types of cancer; damages the nose, throat, and lungs and irritation or damage to the eyes and skin, and cause major damage to vital organs(all of which can be passed along to infants by their mother).
After reviewing the facts of the case and viewing the movie once again to refresh my memory I have become a little more fond of lawyers. I believe lawyers are a necessary evil in the world of today. Although they receive 40% of awarded settlements, they played a vital role in protecting victims, who of which could not fight for themselves otherwise.
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