Week 3 EOC: Erin Brockovich

In 1996, the PG&E case that Erin Brockovich was investigating ended up with a settlement of 333 million dollars towards 650 residents of Hinkley, California, who suffered from health issues due to the water pollution. In 2006, there was a new settlement for 295 million dollars for more than 1,000 residents in the Mojave Desert towns who also suffered from the groundwater contamination. Along with the settlement the company included and apology to the residents that were affected by the pollution. "Clearly, this situation should never have happened, and we are sorry that it did. It is not the way we do business, and we believe it would not happen in our company today” (http://articles.latimes.com/2006/feb/04/local/me-erin4). The spokesman for the company, Jon Tremayne also added, "The differences between the plaintiffs and our company in the case centered on opposing views of the health science on chromium. Although the settlement does not resolve these differences, we believe it is best to move forward." (http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2006-02-06-pge-settlement-brockovich_x.htm)

"Many of these people truly suffered and money doesn't make that go away," Brockovich said in an interview. "But I hope it gives them a sense that they stood up for something; and I hope they can use the money to help with their medical conditions or to make their lives easier." (http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2006-02-06-pge-settlement-brockovich_x.htm).
I agree with what Erin Brockovich said in that statement because no amount of money can reverse a lot of the health issues that the residents of Hinkley had to suffer but the water contamination issue was something that needed to be resolved. The case dated way back to 1951 but it wasn't being pursued or investigated like it should have been. I assume that even if the people who lived around there and the law firms in that area had a slight idea of what was going on, they just let it slide or were too intimidated to even investigate the case because they felt like they didn't stand a chance against a multi-billion dollar company. I think what Erin Brockovich did, needed to be done in order to prevent future cases involving the health issues that came with the water contamination.