Made famous by the movie "Erin Brockovich", the town of Hinkley, California suffered large scale contamination of its
drinking water with hexavalent chromium, a lethal chemical known to cause cancer and damage the
respiratory system, kidneys, liver, skin and eyes. In 1996 the residents of Hinkley were awarded the largest settlement payout in history from PG&E, but many left the area afterwards, fearing continued deception at the hands of
the company. It's now largely a ghost town - that's the Hinkley Effect.