Focus on Focus Earth: Erin Brockovitch Still Going Strong--Because the Fight Is Not Over Yet

Ten years may have passed since the hit film made Erin Brockovich a celebrity environmental advocate, but not much about what she was fighting for has changed. She's still waging, or helping others to wage, battles all too similar to the Hinkley, CA case made famous in the film—just in different locations. Earlier this year she helped to file a lawsuit against a Missouri tannery alleging that waste from the leather production process was distributed to farmers for use as fertilizer, and resulted in a higher-than-normal incidence of brain tumors. Barely two months later, Brockovich visited Midland, Texas, certain parts of which have exhibited levels of hexavalent chromium 50 times higher than what the EPA considers acceptable, and where the problem is larger than originally thought. Once she arrived in town and started investigating with the community, in an interview with CBS she said it became clear that "the process is becoming daunting very quickly because there's more homes than we thought, it's a bigger plume than we thought. Right now they have identified over 40 homes with significant hexavalent chromium contamination."

Why is hex chrom so bad? It causes cancer (both when inhaled and when ingested) as well as reproductive toxicity, interferes with fetal development, and is harmful to the kidney and liver. Where does it come from? It can occur naturally, but more often comes from industrial sources, including steel production, tanneries, cooling towers, paint and pigment manufacturing, glassmaking, wood preservatives, and cement manufacturing. And 40 percent of the drinking water tested in California showed contamination above safe levels.