Brockovich leads Fennville town hall

FENNVILLE, Mich. (WOOD) - Famed consumer and environmental activist Erin Brockovich told 24 Hour News 8 on Tuesday night her team has found an arsenic problem in the area just outside Fennville where the Birds Eye Foods plant discharges wastewater.

Brockovich said she wants to survey the community to determine if the problem has created any health problems.

The activist - made famous by a 2001 movie that bears her name and stars Julia Roberts - made the comments before a meeting with residents at Fennville Elementary School. Hundreds came with concerns - many with the simple but scary question Jerry Brewer has.

"What is going into my son? How's it going to affect him?" Brewer asked.

Some in the audience said they have seen health problems in their families already. Others say they've found tumors in pets. The question: Are there patterns that connect the health problems to the wastewater Birds Eye discharges from its Fennville plant?

24 Hour News 8 first started investigating the issue in June after a family living feet from a Birds Eye water sprayer shared test results with us that showed arsenic contamination. Birds Eye was giving the family bottled water, but a letter from the company stated Birds Eye was not responsible for the arsenic.

That same summer, in contrast to the company's assertion, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality officials told 24 Hour News 8 that Birds Eye was responsible. Organic compounds in the plant's wastewater allow heavy metals such as arsenic to get into the groundwater, the DEQ officials said.

A Birds Eye statement issued Tuesday still does not claim responsibility for the problem. The statement notes the economic benefit the plant has to the community: Roughly 140 full-time jobs, the same number of part-time jobs and more than $5 million annually in wages and benefits.

But company officials said Birds Eye has a plan before the state to spend more than $3 million to enhance its water treatment system.

"I think that's a wonderful response," Brockovich said of the statement. "I don't like to come in and see these litigations drug out."

But Kari Craton wonders why Birds Eye didn't tell residents about the plan directly. She told us earlier this year about her water issues. Craton was so upset she looked for outside help - and managed to get Brockovich involved.

"There's one person in a community that keeps at you and keeps at you - and that person happens to be Kari," Brockovich said.

Craton says she is pleased she did get the attention of the famed activist but "to be honest with you, I wish it wasn't happening. Because the more doors I knocked on and the more people that I have talked to, the hard reality set in. There are definitely issues."

An investigator working with Brockovich, Bob Bowcock, said if the discharge issue disappeared today, it still would take 30 years to clean up the problems it has caused.

Bowcock said he felt the inclusion of economic impact information in Birds Eye's statement amounted to a threat to leave the community. He said he did not believe that would occur.