patching...
Update: The next chapter of your community's story begins with a single voice. Yours. Blog on Patch. »
Welcome back, Patch Blogger!

Erin Brockovich Will Visit Fridley on June 25 or 27 to Hear Citizen Cancer Concerns

Erin Brockovich is expected to hold a town hall meeting to hear Fridley resident's concerns about the cancer rates in the city.

 

Update (5 p.m. Wednesday): Erin Brockovich's environmental investigator said Wednesday that her visit to Fridley will take place on either Monday, June 25 or Wednesday, June 27, 2012.

Read more about details of visit, progress of Brockovich investigation.

Original post (9:20 p.m. Tuesday): Consumer advocate Erin Brockovich will be coming to Fridley on Wednesday, June 27, 2012, as part of her investigation into the city’s elevated cancer rates, Fridley Cancer Cluster Facebook group founder Jason McCarty said Tuesday.

Brockovich is known for her industrial-contamination case against the Pacific Gas and Electric Company, which led to a $300 million settlement and to her portrayal by Julia Roberts in a 2000 movie dramatization.

Efforts to reach someone in the Brockovich camp to confirm details of plans for a Fridley visit were unsuccessful as of 10 p.m. Tuesday.

The Fridley Cancer Cluster Facebook group, started by Jason McCarty in the end of January, has ballooned to more than 2,700 members actively sharing anecdotes about friends, family and neighbors who contracted cancer after living in the city.

Bob Bowcock, Brockovich’s environmental investigator, has been collecting data from Fridley residents and reaching out to regulatory agencies since late March in an effort to determine whether environmental causes—such as the Fridley’s multiple Superfund sites—could be partially responsible for the city’s cancer cases. McCarty said Bowcock would be joining Brockovich in Fridley.

Bowcock could not be reached Tuesday evening to confirm the June 27 date for Brockovich’s visit, but he has said repeatedly that she intended to come to Fridley.

“I’ll have a ton of notes from everything I’ve found in the public record,” Bowcock said in a March interview with Fridley Patch. “I’ll come out and meet in a hall or a restaurant, and we’ll all just sit there, and I will express to them what I’ve found, what questions that I’ve developed from the initial research, and we’ll map out a testing protocol.”

McCarty said he would like to reserve the Fridley High School auditorium for a town hall meeting with Brockovich.

More:

SEE: New 'Heat Map' of Reported Fridley Cancer Cases
All 7 Fact Sheets on Fridley Superfund Sites from MN Pollution Control Agency
Officials Link Fridley's Elevated Cancer Rates to Smoking Statistics
In City Video, Officials Cool Cancer Concerns
MN Dept. of Health Revises Fridley Cancer Rates Downward

Get the Fridley Patch newsletter. Start a blog. List an event. Post an announcement.

  • Are you looking forward to Erin Brockovich coming to Fridley?

    (Voting has been closed for this question)
    • Yes! (Why? Leave a comment below)
        7 (70%)
    • No! (Why not? Leave a comment below)
        3 (30%)
    Total votes: 10
  • Your vote will only count once. This is not a scientific poll. View Results Vote!
Related Topics: Cancer, Cancer Concerns, Erin Brockovich, Fridley Cancer Cluster, and Jason McCarty
Will you attend Erin Brockovich's townhall-style meeting? Tell us in the comments.

Leave a comment