Rev. Danny Fisher

Erin Brockovich-Ellis (yes, that Erin Brockovich) wrote an email today on behalf of Friends of the Earth. It reads in part:

There is a river in Greece providing toxic drinking water to tens of thousands of people, who are getting sick and dying at alarming rates.

Indeed, the Asopos River is so polluted with highly toxic hexavalent chromium, or Chromium 6–over 400,000 times the amount that should be in groundwater–that the river is running red! This is the result of more than 85 industries operating and polluting along the river with virtually no oversight.

Astoundingly, the government now designates the Asopos not as a river, but a “sludge tube!” You can imagine how those dying from the pollution feel about drinking from a sludge tube.

It is an outrage, and yet, inaction is the kindest way to describe the Greek government’s response to this situation. People from the town of Oinofyta are still drinking water from this river despite the many months that have passed since tests revealed the Chromium 6 dangers.

In fact, over 32 percent of deaths in this village are now from cancer, where that rate used to be around six percent.

People are dying from a preventable and fixable situation in a modern nation.

I beg you, send a message to the U.S. Ambassador to Greece demanding pressure be applied to the Greek government to provide a new water source for those living off the Asopos and to enforce laws on the books meant to regulate the over 85 industries operating on the river.

Friends of the Earth will copy the Greek government so that it knows that Americans are paying attention. Friends of the Earth is also going to carry out similar actions in nations around Europe, so Americans won’t be alone in applying this international pressure.

If you saw the wonderful film Erin Brockovich, directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Julia Roberts, you might remember that Mrs. Brockovich-Ellis was the one who discovered that the levels of hexavalent chromium in the groundwater at Hinkley, CA, were far beyond the minimum level set by the Environmental Protection Agency. What’s more, she and her employer (the late attorney Edward L. Masry) were able to show that the Pacific Gas & Electric Company knowingly contaminated the groundwater and then lied about it to the local people. The case ended in 1996 with a settlement of $333 million–still the largest amount ever paid out in a direct action lawsuit in United States history.

To send a message to the U.S. Ambassador to Greece, just follow this link.