Pacific Gas & Electric agreed to pay $20 million to the remaining 100 plaintiffs in a high-profile lawsuit for allegedly contaminating Hinkley, California’s, drinking water with chromium 6--a state-designated carcinogen. PG&E was sued by Hinkley residents and the case was made famous by the film “Erin Brockovich.” PG&E paid $295 million in February 2006 to 1,100 of the 1,600 original plaintiffs, who alleged the utility was responsible for premature deaths and myriad health and other claims. “Clearly this situation should have never happened, and we are sorry that it did,” PG&E stated at that time. In the latest settlement, a PG&E spokesperson gave no details other than note it involved a $20 million payment to the last 100 plaintiffs. The case expanded from residents of Hinkley to Topock and Kettlemen City. According to one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, Steve Wainer, with Thomas Anton & Associates, who provided higher and more detailed numbers, it came down to 104 plaintiffs with two separate settlements. He said 88 of them won $20 million and another 16 won $4.3 million. Two died during litigation, according to Wainer. The rest, he said, were knocked out of litigation due to the statute of limitations. The separate settlements between the earlier high-profile case and this one were due to different legal timelines, said Wainer. PG&E’s Hinkley compressor station, near Barstow, went into operation in 1952. It was used to convey natural gas in a pipeline from Texas to San Francisco, according to state documents. From 1952 to 1966 the utility used chromium 6 (hexavalent chromium) to inhibit corrosion in the facilities. The wastewater from the cooling tower was released into unlined ponds and “percolated to ground water,” according to the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board. By 1987, an excessive amount of chrome 6 was found in private wells. PG&E bought 11 of the homes located over the plume of contaminated groundwater. The utility also provided bottled water to residents. In 1985, a memo from then-chief siting engineer for PG&E, H. M. Howe, called the wastewater from the plant “non hazardous.” He insisted that the ponds at the facility should not be subject to the Toxic Pits Cleanup Act of 1984. According to state documents, there were 40,000 gallons/day of chrome-laden wastewater. In November 2001, when the utility was in bankruptcy, it called the chrome 6 claims “entirely or partially without merit.” It added that “there is no admissible scientific evidence that exposure to environmental levels of chrome six can cause the wide range of illnesses set forth by the claimants.”