Hinkley
Groundwater Contamination
The town of Hinkley, California,
located in the Mojave
Desert, had its groundwater
contaminated with hexavalent chromium starting in 1952, resulting in a legal
case against Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) and a multi-million-dollar settlement in 1996.
The legal case was dramatized in the film Erin Brockovich, released in 2000.
Pollution of groundwater
PG&E operates a compressor station in Hinkley for natural gas transmission
pipelines. The natural gas has to be re-compressed approximately every 350
miles (560 km), and the station uses large cooling towers to cool the gas
after it has been compressed.
Between 1952 and 1966,
the water used in these cooling towers contained hexavalent chromium – now
recognized as a carcinogen
– to prevent rust in the machinery. The water was stored between uses in
unlined ponds, which allowed it to percolate into the groundwater. This
severely contaminated the groundwater, affecting soil and contaminating water
wells near the compressor station, with a plume approximately 2 miles
(3.2 km) long and nearly 1 mile (1.6 km) wide.
Average hexavalent chromium levels in Hinkley were recorded
as 1.19 parts-per-billion (ppb) with an estimated peak of 20 ppb. The
PG&E Topock Compressor Station averaged 7.8 ppb and peaks at
31.8 ppb based on the PG&E Background Study.[2] The
proposed California health goal for hexavalent chromium is 0.02 ppb.
Litigation
Residents of Hinkley filed a class action
against PG&E.
In 1993, Erin Brockovich, a
legal clerk to lawyer Edward
L. Masry, investigated the apparent elevated cluster of illnesses in
the community linked to hexavalent chromium.[4] The
efforts of Brockovich and Masry, and the plight of the people of Hinkley,
became widely known when the film Erin Brockovich was released in 2000.
After many arguments, the case was referred to arbitration with
maximum damages of $400 million. After the arbitration for the first 40 people
resulted in roughly $110 million, PG&E reassessed its position and decided
to end arbitration and settle the entire case. The case was settled in 1996 for
$333 million, the largest settlement ever paid in a
direct-action lawsuit in U.S.
history.
In 2006, PG&E agreed to pay $295 million to settle cases
involving another 1,100 people statewide for hexavalent chromium-related
claims.
In 2008, PG&E settled the last of the cases involved
with the Hinkley claims for $20 million.
Cleanup
Ongoing cleanup documentation is maintained at the California Environmental Protection
Agency (Cal/EPA) page regarding Hinkley.
Samples taken in August 2010 showed that the plume of
contaminated water had started to migrate into the lower aquifer.[7][8] As of
September 2013, the Cal/EPA reports that some progress is being made on
cleanup, but also reports that the plume has expanded to 6 miles long and 4
miles wide.
A study released in 2010 by the California Cancer Registry
showed that cancer rates in Hinkley "remained unremarkable from 1988 to
2008."[9] 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."[9] In June
2013 "Mother Jones" published an article regarding work by the Center for Public Integrity
that was critical of the study, and some others by the same researcher.
Chromium(VI)-contaminated
water supply is apparently a widespread problem, and is not isolated
to Hinkley.
Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E)
PG&E
Corporation is the parent company for the Pacific Gas and Electric
Company, and was a funder for the Center
for American Progress.
Note: Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Center for American Progress,
the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), and the American
Constitution Society.
George Soros is the
founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, was the
chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, and a supporter for
the Center for American Progress.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for Center for American Progress,
the Brookings Institution (think tank), the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace (think tank), and the New America Foundation.
Akin,
Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP was a lobby firm for the Center for
American Progress, and is the lobby firm for the PG&E
Corporation.
Vernon E. Jordan Jr. is a senior
counsel for Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer
& Feld, LLP, Valerie B. Jarrett’s great uncle, an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), a director at the American
Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference
participant (think tank
Valerie B. Jarrett
is Vernon E. Jordan Jr’s great niece, the senior
adviser for the Barack Obama
administration, and a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
Kathleen Brown is
a member of the Commercial Club of
Chicago, California state government
governor Jerry Brown’s sister, and
was the California state government treasurer.
Cyrus F.
Freidheim Jr. is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Jessica Tuchman Mathews was an honorary trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), is the president of the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace (think tank), a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg
(think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview with Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace uncovered the plans for population control by involving the United States
in war)
James F. Collins
is a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
(think tank), and was a senior advisor for Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP.
Andrew Carnegie
was the founder of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think
tank), and the founder of the Carnegie Institution for Science.
Richard A.
Meserve is the president of the Carnegie
Institution for Science, a director at the Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a director at the PG&E Corporation, and a senior of
counsel for Covington & Burling LLP.
Eric H. Holder Jr.
was a partner at Covington & Burling
LLP, a board member at the American
Constitution Society, and is the attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice for the Barack Obama administration.
Robert Raben was
a director at the American Constitution
Society, an assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice, and is the president of the Raben Group.
Melody C. Barnes
was a principal for the Raben Group,
the EVP for the Center for American
Progress, the domestic policy council, director for the Barack Obama administration, and is Barack Obama’s golf partner.
PG&E
Corporation was a funder for the Center
for American Progress, and is the parent company for the Pacific
Gas and Electric Company.
Ezekiel Emanuel
is a senior fellow at the Center for
American Progress, Rahm I. Emanuel & Ari Emanuel’s brother, and was the health
care policy adviser for the Barack Obama
administration.
Rahm I. Emanuel
is Ezekiel Emanuel & Ari Emanuel’s brother, a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, the Chicago (IL) mayor, and was the White
House chief of staff for the Barack
Obama administration.
Kathleen Brown is
a member of the Commercial Club of
Chicago, California state government
governor Jerry Brown’s sister, and
was the California state government treasurer.
California
Environmental Protection Agency is an agency for the California state government.
Terry Tamminen
was the secretary for the California
Environmental Protection Agency, and a senior fellow & climate policy
director for the New America Foundation.
Commercial
Club of Chicago,
Members Directory A-Z (Past Research)
Tuesday,
December 17, 2013
Newton N. Minow
is a member of the Commercial Club of
Chicago, and a senior counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP.
R. Eden Martin is
the president of the Commercial Club of
Chicago, and counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP.
Barack Obama was an
intern at Sidley Austin LLP.
Michelle Obama
was a lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP.
Michelle O creates trouble for kids with cancer (Past Research)
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Parents are outraged because they say they’re being restricted
from accompanying their sick children to St. Jude
Children’s Research Hospital Wednesday because first lady Michelle Obama is
visiting – and security measures prohibit both parents from escorting the
little patients to medical appointments.
Sidley Austin
LLP was the lobby firm for St. Jude
Children’s Research Hospital.
Ari Emanuel is Ezekiel Emanuel & Rahm I. Emanuel’s brother, the co-CEO
& director for William Morris
Endeavor Entertainment, and a co-founder for Americans for Fuel Efficient Cars.
Barbra Streisand
is a William Morris Endeavor
Entertainment client, and the founder of the Barbra Streisand Foundation
Barbra
Streisand Foundation was a funder for the Center for Public Integrity.
Arianna
Huffington is a director at the Center
for Public Integrity, and a co-founder for Americans for Fuel Efficient Cars.
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