Brockovich and town facing real-life sequel

The film version ended well enough - chased down by the unlikely crusader Erin Brockovich, played by Julia Roberts, the giant California power company PG&E settled with residents in the high desert town of Hinkley over claims it had poisoned their water supply and exposed them to life-threatening illnesses.

But now a sequel may have to be ordered. Thirteen years after the company paid US$333 million to settle the class-action suit against it spearheaded by Brockovich, the scourge in the soil may be back.

A large plume of water laced with the offending hexavalent chromium, or chromium 6, has been found spreading beyond an agreed containment boundary and towards residents' homes.

Among those voicing concern is Brockovich herself, who, since the settlement with 600 Hinkley residents and the box-office success of the 2000 Oscar-winning film that bore her name, has run a legal and consulting business assisting in similar kinds of suits nationwide.

"Once again, this is a community of sitting ducks," she told the Los Angeles Times.

"I'll be out there soon to help encourage people ... to start knocking on doors and examining water and soil test results. Then we'll decide how to proceed."

She said the 1997 deal meant PG&E should automatically be taking care of the plume. "But I'm not holding my breath."

State water regulators last week ordered PG&E to step up monitoring of groundwater quality.

Hinkley's woes date back to 1951 when the power company started using the chromium to combat corrosion in a nearby plant.

Water polluted with the isotope was placed in unlined ponds and allowed eventually to seep into groundwater that feeds private wells.

In the lawsuit, plaintiffs claimed it was responsible for elevated numbers of cases of breast and stomach cancer and other serious conditions.

Today, the company is not denying the growth of the new plume which is about 4km long and 1.6km wide, or its breach of the agreed containment limits.

Chromium is also showing up in a deeper aquifer that was meant to be shielded by a layer of thick clay. But PG&E doesn't concede recent readings of higher-than-normal chromium levels in some nearby domestic wells are connected to it.

Lillie Stone's well recently showed levels of chromium 700 per cent higher than a year ago. She has asked PG&E to buy her house so she can move, without success.

The local water board told the Los Angeles Times it was considering penalties against the company.

- Independent