Erin Brockovich To Visit Coal Ash Spill Site

The Knoxville News Sentinel reports that Erin Brockovich, the famous environmental advocate and law expert, will be visiting Tennessee to investigate the massive coal ash sludge spill that happened on December 22:

"A lot of people don't feel confident about what they're being told," she said Wednesday from her California home. "We're going to share what we do know and what to anticipate. We'll bring along experts and answer some of their questions."

Brockovich, a 48-year-old mother of three, has worked as a television host and describes herself as a self-taught authority on environmental issues. She worked as a law clerk in the 1990s when she began looking into reports of health problems caused by contaminated groundwater in Hinkley, Calif.

Listen to Brockovich's TVA coal ash spill thoughts on WVLT-TV in Knoxville, Tenn. She says that the Tennessee Valley Authority's credibility "might not be the best."

Brockovich also blogged about the coal ash spill on her own site:

Coal fly ash. It sounds like someone has been burning fly poop or airborne coal. But seriously, it is akin to the creosote that coated those chimneys and chimneysweep boys of Charles Dickens ancient London.

Fly ash comes from chimneys, specifically the chimneys of power plants. The collection point determines exactly what kind of ash it is. Fly ash apparently contains silicon dioxide and calcium oxide as well as trace concentrations of heavy metals. In other words, coal ash is nasty stuff to have floating around in your river, air, and drinking water.

For more on the coal ash spill:

::Tenn. Governor Calls Coal Ash Spill A "Massive Disaster"
::Estimate Of Sludge Spill Size Doubles
::Coal Ash Spill Before And After Photos -- And What's Next

Comments

[Yellowrose2]

Eight Year Search for Environmental Justice and Cry for Help

December 2008 I was informed the judge just granted Sunoco, Inc. another continuance marking five years of continuances received from Delaware County Courts in Media, PA preventing a trial, as I/spill site owner claims foul play.
Why wouldn't the Judge require proof these homes were safe to live in or that all residents had been relocated before starting to give continuances as seeing the hydro petroleum carbons in fuel oil cause cancer?
Sunoco, Inc. gain access to our properties in January of 2001 using their own Access Agreements requesting permission to conduct Act II clean up in accordance with PA"DEP" rules and regulations of a spill which migrated into our basements and yards. It is apparent they took the cheap way out.
I need help in getting Sunoco, Inc. to stop getting continuances and produce copies of our 2001 releases from PA"DEP" or settle this matter without further delay or continuances.

Help,
Yellowrose2

[LaReina]

Erin is an ungrateful Bespoke Ambulance Chaser! She forgets from where she eats! The movie, if anyone can actually read was based on a story. She only travels or speaks for payolla! The catalyst to the Erin Brock movie was Jimmy Vititoe and nobody else. But then again, what do you expect from peasants who prey on victims for food. She is always paid per victims she signs to which ever firm she is chasing for!

[mlaiuppa]

Hope Alaska is paying attention. They're next.

[marijam]

I live in North Carolina and find that all outside surfaces are coated by a thin layer of gray soot year round. In the summer, the leaves are coated with it. The rain washes some of it off, but the undersides of the leaves get quite a buildup. Can't be good for lungs, breathing in this stuff when you're outside.

[mle]

"The wastewater dissolved the hexavalent chromium from the cooling towers and was discharged to unlined ponds at the site."

You mean, like the TVA slurry pond was also unlined? It's been there for decades. Unlined.

[coopersmom]

I too have come to work in the law through a side door. The attorney I work for, is, without a doubt, one of the biggest jerks I have ever personally met. I was so mystified by his behavior (And this is after working with mortgage brokers through the boom, yet another insufferable group.) that I researched attorney behavior on line, only to find that big law firms often turn aspiring litigators into raging monsters. I am also stunned by what an amazing job the law has done at turning simple concepts into latin filled pretense, in an effort to keep the average person intimidated and in the dark. And, the forms! The most amazingly contrived maze of disorganized nonsense imaginable, strictly to insure that laypersons are forced to hire attorneys.

It would not surprise me if more and more formally untrained legal minds emerge to help deliver us from the sins of big business. It takes a legal outsider to maintain the humanity necessary to accomplish these kinds of feats.

[Swerinjer4]

Erin Brokovich is the prostitute with the heart of gold.

[LeeCalif]

Glad she's going since those residents have been lied to since Day 1 the TVA and EPA.

[fulanita]

Hmm. She looks more like Felicity Huffman than Julia Roberts...

[barkm]

hmmm? Hmmm what? It was Julia Roberts who was playing Erin B., not Erin B. who was playing Julia Roberts, you dummy. I need to accept that really stupid people leave comments. I am new to Huffington Post, and thought smart people were here, But no, we are now the USA, I forgot.

[anninroosevelt]

barkm, you should comment without being snarky That demonstrates how smart you are..

[fulanita]

Yes, the USA where people take themselves extremely seriously on blogs. WOW. Get those sticks out of your @sses people

[anninroosevelt]

Why would you think a 46 year old woman would look like a 25 year old (stunning) actor? The story around taking on PSEG is powerful and inspiring. Who cares about resemblances?

[fulanita]

wow, uptight much?

[sol2009]

Erin Brockovich's credibility took a nosedive last fall when she appeared in a campaign ad for a California candidate who allegedly was an officer of an environmental company. The allegation was so false the candidate removed the ad. It seemed that Ms. Brockovich apparently was an officer of the company. Many people in her community felt she compromised her credibility.

[repugnicansfearme]

Wow, I guess she doesn't walk on water. Can we burn her at the stake? Good case of, What Have You Done for Me Lately???

[avocats]

Sure, just what the situation needs--a PI lawyer (no, oops, make that "famous environmental advocate and law expert" chasing ambulances in Tennessee. Seriously, people, she is actually worse than a PI lawyer, if that is possible--she has no degree and no education; apparently blonde hair and very big boobs sufficed.

[Twrexx]

If you immerse yourself in a topic long enough, you can become an expert. This is what Brockovich has done. Having a degree doesn't necessarily make you an expert; Blagojevich went to law school and, by his own admission, could barely find the law library. Look how well that turned out.

A former employer of mine once worked on a case where the other side was trying to get a self-described gun expert dismissed because he had no formal ballistics training. When asked why he considered himself an expert, he simply said, "Because I know more about guns than anybody else." He went on to demonstrate that and the judge agreed with him.

Brockovich is to be applauded. And your sexist comments say more about you than they do about her.

[littlejohn]

Although the sexist comments are beside the point, it was the fawning movie, with Julia Roberts, that brought up the matter of her boobs. The point (at least in the movie) was that she exploited her good looks to gain access to records.
However, the case that made Erin Brockavich famous was a fraud. Cancer clusters appear in all sorts of places. They don't prove local industries caused the illnesses. Statisticians seem to be in general agreement that Brockovich's firm won not because she was right, but because juries are easily confused about statistics and causation. It was cheaper for the company to settle. The woman has no other claim to fame, and she is absolutely no expert.

[jcdf]

Yes, It's true she doesn't have a law degree, but when those educated idiots were poisoning the people back in Hinkley, Ca, none of the "law experts" were able to get the info to go after them - " It takes boobs".
Just like after 911 they told us the air was safe at ground zero, it was not. There are still first responders and residents in the area dying from lung related problems.
The more media attention the better for the people in the area.

[btanner]

Yeah!!! We need people with undergraduate degrees from Yale and business degrees from Harvard. Like Dubya!!! 18 days to go, woohoo!!!

[bubbuh]

I posted this below. But, given your snarky condescension.:

Really? Would like to provide some references which support your assertions?
You know, like this very easily found entry at wikipedia which entirely contradicts what you say. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erin_Brockovich

A couple of quotes:

"{PG&E used hexavalent chromium to fight corrosion in the cooling tower. The wastewater dissolved the hexavalent chromium from the cooling towers and was discharged to unlined ponds at the site. Some of the wastewater percolated into the groundwater, affecting an area near the plant approximately two miles long and nearly a mile wide.[4] The case was settled in 1996 for $333 million, the largest settlement ever paid in a direct action lawsuit in U.S. history".

"National Institutes of Health researchers announced May 16, 2007 there is strong evidence that hexavalent chromium causes cancer in laboratory animals when it is consumed in drinking water. The two-year study conducted by the National Toxicology Program (NTP)[8] shows that animals given hexavalent chromium for three months developed malignant tumors on their pituitary gland.[9] The report warns that extrapolation of these results to other species, including characterization of hazards and risks to humans, requires analyses beyond the intent of the report. Nevertheless, health care professionals agree that the current data on chromium(VI) are sufficient to justify strict legal limits on the hexavalent chromium concentration in water, and that neglect of these limits imposes a major health threat on the affected population."

[brokenarrow]

Brock rocks! One in a gazillion who walks the walk. May you continue to right the wrongs, and inspire us all.

[maxfax]

As smart as ever.

[OnTheOtherBeach]

Time for the TVA to get out its checkbook. EB takes no prisoners -- you go, girl!

[larry278]

Something has gone seriously wrong, the 21st century TVA isn't what FDR envisioned. Send TVA a train load of money before the USA can't borrow Chinese money. TVA has to pay for the damage it did. Give the survivors new homes, life long medical care & money to compensate the survivors for the many damages & injuries the survivors have experienced & will continue to experience till the survivors die. TVA fouled up, big time [bad pun]; Erin will prove that.
Fire the TVA employees who came up with the brilliant scheme of creating another toxic lake behind a poorly built dam. Those who were supposed to maintain the dam & the lake should be sent to build W's library & should also maintain it.

[GoodScout]

I remember her when she used to be hott.

[blindjester]

Funny. She doesn't remember you at all.

[EclectusGirl]

Chuckle