Editing Erin Brockovich (section)

==Pacific Gas & Electric litigation==
{{Main|Hinkley groundwater contamination}}
[[File:Akaka and Brokovich.jpg|thumb|Brockovich with U.S. Senator [[Daniel Akaka]] of Hawaii in 2007]]

In 1993, Brockovich became a whistleblower when she spoke out against PG&E after finding widespread unexplained illness in the town of [[Hinkley, California]]. She became instrumental in suing the utility company on behalf of the town.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Dorian |first1=Marc |last2=Gorin |first2=Tim |last3=Yamada |first3=Haley |last4=Yang |first4=Allie |title=Erin Brockovich: the real story of the town three decades later |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/erin-brockovich-real-story-town-decades/story?id=78180219 |access-date=1 February 2023 |work=ABC News |date=June 10, 2021 |language=en |quote=“Everywhere I was going in this little community, somebody had asthma, a complaint of a chronic cough, recurring bronchitis, recurring rashes, unusual joint aches, nosebleeds,” Brockovich told “20/20” in a new interview. “It didn't make sense, and so the more I ask questions ... the more I started to piece the puzzle together.”}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Friedman |first1=Ann |title=Erin Brockovich: The fabulous American whistleblower has a few more surprises in the pipeline. |url=https://thegentlewoman.co.uk/library/erin-brokovich |work=thegentlewoman.co.uk |date=2016 |language=en |quote=The film – “98 per cent true,” she tells me – chronicles her 1993 fight against the power company Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), which was poisoning the water in the small town of Hinkley, California, with hexavalent chromium. The pollution was causing cancer, infertility and a barrage of other ailments in people unfortunate enough to live nearby. Erin, who since 1991 had worked as a legal clerk for the law firm Masry & Vititoe, helped the residents sue PG&E.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Devine |first1=Tom |title=The corporate whistleblower's survival guide : a handbook for committing the truth |date=2011 |publisher=Berrett-Koehler Publishers |location=San Francisco |isbn=9781605099866 |quote=From Erin Brockovich to Enron, whistleblowers who "challenge abuses of power that betray the public trust" have proven to be an unfortunate necessity in modern business culture.}}</ref>
The case (''Anderson, et al. v. Pacific Gas & Electric,'' file BCV 00300) alleged contamination of drinking water with [[hexavalent chromium]] (also written as "chromium 6", "chromium VI", "Cr-VI" or "Cr-6") in the town.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.skillmd.com/erin-brockovich-and-hexavalent-chromium/|title=Erin Brockovich and Hexavalent Chromium|website=SkillMD|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-26}}</ref> At the center of the case was the Hinkley [[compressor]] station, built in 1952 as a part of a [[natural gas|natural-gas]] pipeline connecting to the [[San Francisco Bay Area]]. Between 1952 and 1966, PG&E used hexavalent chromium in a cooling tower system to fight [[corrosion]]. The waste water was discharged to unlined ponds at the site, and some of the waste water percolated into the [[groundwater]], affecting an area of approximately {{convert|2|sqmi|km2}} near the plant.<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/rwqcb6/water_issues/projects/pge/index.shtml |title= PG&E Hinkley Chromium Cleanup| website= swrcb.ca.gov| publisher= [[California State Water Resources Control Board]]| date= September 10, 2008| access-date= November 24, 2020}}</ref> The Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) put the PG&E site under its regulations in 1968.

The case was [[settlement (law)|settled]] in 1996 for $333 million ($666.6 million in 2024), the largest settlement ever paid in a direct-action lawsuit in United States history to that date. [[Edward L. Masry|Masry & Vititoe]], the law firm for which Brockovich was a legal clerk, received $133.6 million ($273.4 million in 2024) of that settlement, and Brockovich received $2.5 million as part of her fee.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/dec/10/gender.uk |title= What Erin Brockovich did next| first=Duncan| last= Campbell |date=10 December 2001 |work= The Guardian | access-date= November 24, 2020}}</ref>