Did Erin Brockovich fix Hinkley’s water pollution? The Aftermath series
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- čas přidán 12. 11. 2017
- The 2000 film “Erin Brockovich” seemed like a successful David versus Goliath story. A single mom of three took on PG&E for contaminating drinking water in Hinkley, California, and came out victorious, suing and winning $333 million from the giant utility company. But whatever became of the tiny town?
For the roughly 600 residents who received part of that payout, the ending wasn’t all happy. Residents who lived there in the ‘90s, such as Roberta Walker, say they suffer from residual health problems. And while they can’t disclose how much money they received from the lawsuit, they say it wasn’t enough to keep them afloat for long. Now, 21 years after the lawsuit, it seems the same public health hazard continues to affect the welfare of Hinkley residents.
From natural disasters to national tragedies, the media swarms around major stories, hurling those affected into the spotlight. But what happens after the cameras are gone and the country moves on to the next headline? The Aftermath revisits stories that once dominated the news, investigating where people are now and what has happened since, to tell the story after
the story.
The Glassbreaker Films initiative at The Center for Investigative Reporting aims to support women in documentary filmmaking and investigative journalism. The project is generously funded by the Helen Gurley Brown Foundation.
For more on The Aftermath series: revealnews.org/theaftermath
Why are these people so bitter with Erin? She TRIED to help you all. She had no control of what the company or judge would do. She fought for you, and you hold it against her. Shame on you all.
Erin is an activist.. she brought the problem to light. No matter what the outcome, everyone should thank her for her courage and conviction regarding the pg&e problem.
It wasn't Erin Brokovich's job to save everyone, but she fought tooth and nail for strangers, after this case was over, she didn't quit, she kept fighting. But it was up to the families what they did after it was over.
The government failed the country by not holding any of these monsters accountable, and they should have had to pay a lot more.
Well said. We all knew we were going to get sick at some point in our lives,for me it's now . I moved aways years a going but still come and visit family. It's sad to see our little town die into a ghost town.
Imagine victim-blaiming people to this point, huh? It shoulda been "the people" fighting for their own rights for decent water and healthcare! It should have been "the people" who should have left their houses instead of yknow, hoping that media coverage would help them actually SAVE their environment?
Your wife obviously got a very nice settlement. That is a lovely house, with a pool and barn. The fact that she chose to build it in Hinkley is the problem. Did you all think that once the settlement was arrived at the problems would suddenly go away? Groundwater contamination isn't going anywhere anytime soon. It's established. Take your money and move somewhere where the groundwater isn't contaminated! It's a pretty simple concept, but some people just don't get it.
Apparently you didn't hear the part where they said they had more than one test done.
How could anyone love that town after all that. If I got 2mil I would so far from that place
It's not her job to fix it. It's her job to represent her clients. PERIOD.
She's not a lawyer, her job was to do what her bosses told her to do, that's all.
Facts
The point is not how much you got, but that someone took on your case and fought for you. Imagine if they hadn’t. Something is better than nothing and the company was held to account.
How is a company held accountable for anything when they have to pay people like 0.0001% of their annual benefit? It's just like the Challenger scandal, in the end, the only ones who really suffered from it were the victims' families and the ones who actually stood up against NASA and Morton-Thokiol's ways of doing things (they either got fired or booted because they exposed their employers), while on the other hand, MT had to pay millions of dollars which they got back and even more on the next deal they got with NASA! How CAN a company that has provoked the death of 6 astronauts and 1 civil woman, work again with a governmental agency that is supposed to put people's safety first??
PGE was not held accountable for ANYTHING, otherwise, they'd be dead to the ground and the CEOs would be living in a jail cell.
The company was NOT held to account! That same company was responsible for those terrible wildfires we saw recently!
Maybe instead of suing for damages we should sue for fixing the problem. Money spent on victims was money not spent stopping the contamination. Tough place to be in
Frankly was surprised to see the company still operating freely in Hinkly. Just pay out & carry on devastating an entire community. Empty neighborhoods and school, so sad to see 🙏
Roberta, you obviously received a very nice settlement due to the house you live in. The fact that you chose to build it in the firestorm of what you had already dealt with is...well questionable. Did you think that once there was a settlement that all those years of Chromium 6 would disappear? This was a situation that built for decades. It's like Covid...It's not going away anytime soon.
That bartender/proprietor needs to rethink that attitude of his. it wasn't his bar that made Erin famous. One way or another, somewhere along the line, Embry (as he's called in the film) would have approached her again anyway. So his bar is immaterial. What Erin did was make the bar famous by way of allowing that film to be made about her in which the bar is featured.
Your Immaterial Feminazi
H u h ? Hinkley and Erin's case WERE famous before the movie. Also "allowing" the movie to be made??? Yeah she did it out of the kindness of her heart, really didn't get ANY money out of it...
@@MARYWTHER With or without money, she was ASKED first whether she wanted her story to be made into a film. She might have just as easily said No.
Damned Skippy 💯 percent correct
"water contamination caused them to have high cholesterol, high blood pressure and lupus"
Sadly Happily Ever After only exists in fairy tales. Ms. Brockovich did everything she could, and she did a lot, but she couldn't force PG&E to clean up their mess, or magically reverse the damage already done. Nobody can
I don't believe in fairy tales.
Ok..my question is....WHY the hell didn't these people move?? I understand a good majority of them own their houses, but I'm looking at this video thinking "Omg! Nothing but dessert and dead dirt. There are better places to live. Why stick around in a contaminated wasteland when there is an entire planet to escape to?"
But that's just my opinion.💯
85% of people did move.
it's explained that they did move but in an area that wasn't contaminated but became after they settled in their new home. Because the pollution area became bigger.
Some people prefer the desert.
I LOVE the desert. And there are plenty of other communities to live in that are in the desert, that these people could have moved to.
How are you poor if you buy a $700,000 dollar house? I know its California, but why the hell would you pay that kind of money for property where you are literally married to someone who was poisoned by the water there? Makes no sense to me.
No she had that house built there 6 miles away from where her first house was or was it 6 miles from the plant
@sherlsensors3608 it's beyond dumb, they should have moved to a completely different town ....they're idiots
The land is contaminated and there is no fixing that. The money was for your past suffering before you knew what you were subjected to. If you stay any future problems are your own fault, "Donna".
Sure as hell if a land keeps getting contaminated even after the company was apparently "called out" on it, it can't get decontaminated!
If I was in their shoes, I would have left and never looked back. Why they did what they did was pointless
I'm not really sure how Erin could possibly fix contaminated ground and a town population on that ground, or why they thought she even would. Seems the bar owner and the woman are not facing reality. This was never going to be fixed in 5 years. It's going to take decades and decades. The only best option was to leave. I'm still wondering where they got this idea it would just be fixed after a few months. This area will never return back to how it was. Even after the ground contamination is cleared up, people still won't move back. Also there are towns just 7 10 miles outside this town that are fine, why not move there? Moving two miles down the road is just stupid. The contaminated areas are actually quite small at this point.
These people decided to stay and trust PGE? F’real? I have no idea why this lady thinks Erin brockowich had anything to do with her current problems. Her town would have been a horrible cemetery instead of a “ghost town” if not for Erin.
The problem is, Erin Brokovich benefited from this story. She went to talk shows, she wrote and sold books, had a movie made about her and such. She got tons of money (not to mention fame) from it, while the real people she benefited from, were left in the dirt. In the end, she abused them just like PGE did.
She made Hinkley a household name and brought the public interest FWIW to a location no one paid attention to. So what if she became famous while making Hinkley famous? The alternative is so much worse. Erin is not JC to perform miracles and heal everyone’s pain and disease. She did her best to call attention to a miserable place and the people whose job it is to fix things should fix them. Not Erin or anyone who spends time effort and money to investigate and hold people accountable for the willful bad stuff they do to society at large. The claim in this video is just illogical.
Keep writing to the monsters who caused all this illness, pain & death ☠️ --- PG&E !!!
@@dasikakn I think the point people are trying to make is that if the “problem” I had supposedly fought so hard to fix was still not fixed I wouldn’t be parading around like some sort of hero. In fact, it’s likely that the settlement Erin fought for made it impossible for PG&E to have enough funds to fix the problem. A $28 billion company just means $27.9 Billion flows through, not that there’s actual liquid money laying around. Every penny not being spent on power generation, utilities upkeep, and environmental cleanup just guarantees further victims and opportunities for lawyers to grift off of.
PGE has plenty of operational margin to accommodate the settlement even if it is paid out lumpsum. The problem with the premise of this video is that it disincentivizes whistleblowers calling attention to a problem. It’s really hard to do it anonymously and not become famous in the process. People need a face and a name to believe any statements they’re making. Besides, so what if she profits? Is her time and guile not worth compensation ? The Hinkley residents came up empty on their own. Clearly she is what it took. She and her legal team did the work of bringing the case together.
More importantly, Corporations even though though they are made of possibly decent individuals behave in really strange ways that are anti-humanity at large. People like Erin are only part of the solution. Maligning her name is counter productive and strengthens the case of the root causal bad actor.
I'm not trying to make excuses for what PG&E did - if someone poisoned my daughters, my rage could not be contained. At the same time, if I got some kind of settlement and a chance to move out of a dangerous area and keep my babies safe, I would be GONE. I understand the urge to stay in the place that you've called home, in the place that's familiar. But it's your responsibility as a parent to protect your children, and if that means making hard choices - like moving somewhere safe - then that's what you do. If I were representing PG&E, I would claim contributory negligence.
We all got a good sum of money I'm not rich but it was enough to move and buy a new home. Some people just don't learn.
Oooooooor maybe, to some of these people, the supposedly "awesome deal" they got was barely enough to pay for their medical bills, yknow? Since y'all americans love to pretend you can live without healthcare, turns out when your WHOLE FAMILY has cancer, it costs a lot of money.
Sounds like they spent their money foolishly.
So This Lady Took Her Money And Built A Home In A Area That Made Her Sick In The First Place? Sorry But That's The Most Low IQ Decision Ever
no she constructed in a safe area that became polluted after because the polluted area has extended
I still would've moved a lot farther away.... like another state
@@johnmoser2689 I understand what you are saying but keep in mind that human beings get attached to places, they may be felt a sense of community and knew everyone in that place. When you grow up in a specific area it is very difficult to move out, especially if you are in your 50's. Plus, they moved out in an area that was safe at the beginning.
I think with the life threatening nature of the contaminants I would've put a lot more distance behind me
I moved to a few different states for work requirements alone if the environment is contaminated I would consider that more important than attachment to a polluted eco system
Hinkley isn't the only place...there's Flint and Sebring Ohio...
Money won on a lawsuit doesn't guarantee that they didn't just keep doing it under a different company name.
rothschild owned
5:27 Property in Hinckley valued at over $700k? The real estate agent must've been the same one that sold Jack his beans. Hinckley is in the middle of nowhere. I'm not knocking the guy but knowing the history of the place and its location I would be hard pressed to buy a house there.
Looool
Why tf she still there and now wants to complain everybody left omg ... she was given plenty to move on.
The Masry law firm, along with Erin Brockovich - certainly held PG&E's feet to the fire for a settlement of $333 million --- and shed a nationwide light on some of the atrocities in Hinkley! Sadly, lawsuits - involve extreme costs up front, attorneys' fees, etc., and clients rarely get the settlement they expect or plan for at the outset. ⚖️
Lawyers retain 40%. The people are made aware of this.
So they wasted all the money they received on stuff. Got into debt. And still lives in the town that tried to kill them? We all have choices in life....
It's not a lawyers job to regulate corporate policies. That's the government's job. It's lawyers job to represent the people and document facts
She pointed out the problem to you. You chose to still live there. Who didn't change anything?
Eeerrr... High cholesterol??
Me too and Im from Asia.
Sorry...If the water is poisoned. I'm moving. I don't care, if I end up going bankrupt. I'm leaving.
PG&E paid for them to move, if they chose to stay.....that's on them.
Seriously: I have watched that great movie a million times!
Beun007 "Have a fuckin' cup of coffee, Ed."
"Coffee would be great!"
I don't think the bar maid Erin brockovich I'm pretty sure Erin brockovich made the bar. Guy sounds like he should lay off his own cocktails
Some people just love to be the victim. If it's so bad, then leave! By the way, wish I could afford such a nice house and have a horse. Also, I know what it's like to be sick. I got an illness no one knows how I got. I need a transplant and no donor match can be found. I'm constantly fighting the gov't because I'm too sick to work, and as soon as I prove I'm disabled and get on disability, the gov't claims I'm not disabled. Then I prove I'm disabled all over again. And the gov't claims I'm healed. Then I prove I'm still sick. Then the gov't says they won't pay me until I pay back $27,000 it gave me from 2015 to 2018, even though I proved I was also sick during those years too. My illness is not the type that comes and goes on a whim. I'm sick. Period. I need a transplant to be cured, Period. How the hell can I be sick, not sick, then sick, then not sick, then sick, then not sick? I can't. The gov't is screwing with me, taking away the only income I have, taking away my means to get medical care (Medicare) while I'm dying. I don't have the energy to keep fighting. And that's probably what the gov't is counting on.
28 BILLION DOLLARS! I DIDN'T KNOW IT'S THAT MUCH! WOW! 28 BILLION!
They will never 'finish the job' All of us are dying or are already dead. All PG&E cares about is putting as little money into it all and sweeping a loving tight-knit community under the rug. I'm 38 years old, and count myself lucky that I wasnt able to have any children of my own. My whole family is sick, the third generation of babies being born are sick. CR6 gets in our genes and kills us slowly. My uncle was the only one in our family to get a settlement. He is gone now, and he never got to see all his kids get married. He never got to see any of his grandchildren. My aunt may not make it to see any of her great grand children. Water from Hinkley causes a slow painful death. There is a special place in hell for the folks running PG&E
Freya, I feel for you. I really do. And you and your family deserve some kind of very fair compensation. But goodness, why don't you and your family get the hell out of there?
Not her job to "fix it". It was her job to represent her clients. No reliable water source than they should have gotten the hell out.
So, where did all of these people work out here in the desert...PG&E?
who in their right mind would want to live there? ph and e should be shut down for good and never be allowed to have any more of their plants anyweher and those responsible should be through in prison for life!
if only PG&E would've gone to harbor freight for some liners, drain the storage and trucked it away to death valley where no one will ever live at 130 degrees...irresponsibility causes destruction...
They should be GRATEFUL that Erin did what she did...these people blow my mind.
This woman needs to stop dyeing her hair platinum blonde. The chemicals are seeping into her brain.
The 8 million dollar award to one family....will last, 3months. Lawyers, doctors, medical, medicine....ect.
From my calculations, those people didn't even end up with 500,000 each.
these people complain about hinkley so why do you continue to live thre once the water is contaminated it will never be clean! so if that is where you want to continue to live then shut the hell up! you will get n more money from pg&e they have paid alll they are going to!
Why would you still decide to live there they showed you they don’t care and you still decided to live there 🤦🏻♀️
I’m pretty sure high blood pressure and high cholesterol is more rooted in exposure to unhealthy eating habits than exposure to chromium 6 😂
Lol ya ,no ,wrong, chromium even airborne is a major pollutant and can cause lung cancer when you breathe it if the levels are toxic enough.this is why farmers or even miners could be exposed to it and although at low frequencies it isn't as bad maybe it still can cause breathing and respiratory issues,all types of cancers, sores & complications on the skin,renal effects,gastrointestinal pain and vomiting cardiovascular problems ,reproductive issues & yes even hematologic effects it can affect blood in many ways it is a carcinogen and definitely not a laughing matter for these people
High cholesterol these women are over weight
Exactly lmao
I went there about 2 weeks ago
The town is like abandoned with a few still there and the church had members worshipping there on sunday
man this case is 23 years old now. and why wasn't the money distributed equally. each person would have gotten $555,000 per person. this reminds me of the town called times beach missouri where they sprayed dioxin laced oil onto the dirt roads to control the dust
The money was for medical and get out of town expenses, if they're still there after that or spent it on other purchases; well, whose fault would that be? I don't know the divy of it all, but if the attorneys take the usual 1/3 that leaves about on average 370 thousand to the 600 residents to leave and go where they aren't subjected to health problems and can get the care and healing they deserve.
Why can’t all of you fight together ? Even after Erin already fought the hard battle for you
P.S. I hope the bar purchases "good ice" (bagged ice) and it's not made at the bar ... 🥃🍸🍹
You didn’t get that much money, it’s not Erin’s fault , she already fought hard for you , if it’s not her you got nothing , and no body even know about it
I'm not really impressed by ungrateful people.
Erin Brockovich only stepped in after Roberta Walker a Hinkley resident walked into her water board and did the research first, after PG&E offered to buy her house for $60,000 when she counter-offered them with $250,000. PG&E didn’t hesitate with Roberta’s new offer so she began to dig for answers. Roberta was the one to bring it to Erin Brockvich’s attention and that’s how she became involved. Oh also with the $333 million dollar payout most Hinkley residents didn’t receive money from Ed or Erin so that big Hollywood ending is a crock of shit, Ed and Erin picked and chose who got what settlement from the arbitration. All plaintiffs were hit with ridiculous fees off their settlements as well, there really was no happy ending and now Hinkley is ghost town. Everyone hailed Erin and Ed as hero’s when in reality they owe it all to Roberta Walker who actually brought it to their attention. If you don’t believe me read all the recent articles about the residents
So they are angry at Erin Brockovich because Hinkley is now a ghost town??? Wow, unbelievable
What a mess.
#justicecenter #newsroom #newsanchor #newspapers #globalnews #hinkleynews #hinkley #settlement #justice #legalaction #takeaction
P.S.S. Again, the same redundant question:
"Why rebuild or stay in Hinkley!?!" 🤔 Also, it's WATER 💦 --- which is extraordinarily difficult to contain; think of pipes bursting in a basement or torrential rain! Folks had to assume contaminated water would spread ... 🙄 /// Speaking of water?!? Why not order large 5 gallon containers of water vs. individual bottles like in the garage; I hope they recycle ♻️ !
Each got around 270k. 333 mill, divide by 2 for the lawyers and then divide by 600. The problem is that's not a lot to uproot your entire everything and move but it's what they should have done
you can't assume that each plaintiff got 270K..it was unequally divided by the courts based on the medical histories.
I used to live there I didn’t get any money for my property
@@aceg367 When did you move? Did your family have any medical issues?
If the substance is a cancerogen, what does that have to do with them being overweight? (wich leads to high cholesterol and high blood pressure) People is unbelievable!
Pretty sure her job was to have the water pollution cleaned up but to win a settlement for her clients.
So in other words: the lawyers made a lot of money, some residents didn't get much, and the problem is still there. (IOW: the movie was BS.)
Which is what I always suspected.
It seems they got some money. PGE bought their old house, they used the settlement to build a 700k house, right next to the plumb, in a town everyone is abandoning. Not a great financial decision.
It's not fair for a woman who fought for everyone else lives
Why the hell would you not move away? The water is not going to get fixed, it’s WATER. Water spreads.
So, PG&E still got Hinkley by the balls! That's final outcome, right..?
PG&E killed our town many years ago.
@@joyceramirez9518 it also killed Paradise, CA.
Umm if all R gone...Y is she & her clan still there? What R they waiting for?🤔💞
They're waiting for death. They're so stuck in their ways, they have an unhealthy obsession with the area. They insist that they should stay because they grew up there, they went to school there and they bought a house. They'll never move. My parents are the same about their house and it's crumbling all around them. They won't fix it either. No money. Apparently.
God woman, should have got out of there, way out of there
#infectedwater #worldleaders #whistleblower #breakthesilence #btsadv #testing #congress #lawmakers #chamberofcommerce
That family just wants a pay day it was stupid of them moving to Hinkley they risk their family’s health for a pay check
All the white people in hinckley talks with a Mexican American accent
I thought they were mexican, didn't know they were even white lol
I think probably native american
Erin was overpaid
Erin was murdered by the company that polluted that town.
I feel like these people are angry at the wrong person. If Erin had done nothing then they would be worse off. It was t her job to clean up the town!Geeze people
The Duke was there!!
Amen Nikki K
Wtf? Why would anyone move there?
Sadly they decided to stay.
What the #$@& are you still doing in Hinkley? People amaze me. MOVE.
These people are the reason people say country people are stupid . Gfto of Their you morons !!! Keep playing that greed card and you’ll die before you anything :
they were given plenty of $ to correct the water and their health.. Very ungrateful people!
How do you know that?
Im surprised the city of lenwood or Barstow wasn't effected
Well crap give me the money and run.. If a volcano is spewing lava r u going to stay it's a no Brainerd. MOVE
Hey "donna" you got 5 M $ and the you buy a horse and build massage?
This is a stupid show of course it wasn't her job to go in and reclamate the whole PG&E site. He helped and did what she could and this guy is just jealous he didn't get a bigger piece of the pie
Jealous much?
is not her move to fix the water, after such big case the autorithies shoulded act and fix this
Is this a Democrat town?