Mining: Erin Brockovich does Yarloop

An article by Kathy Marks in Sydney (Independent Online) reports that Erin Brockovich, the American environmental activist, is supporting residents of an Australian town in what she believes may be a similar case.

Ms Brockovich is working with an Australian law firm on a possible class action against Alcoa, an international mining giant. The inhabitants of Yarloop, a small community south of Perth, suffer from a range of health problems that they attribute to emissions from an Alcoa bauxite refinery.

Speaking in Perth yesterday, Ms Brockovich - whose US crusade was made into a film starring Julia Roberts - said she was struck by similarities between the California case and Yarloop.

Incidentally, you may be interested to know that Yarloop is not the original name of the town. It has been known by other names including "that place between Harvey and Waroona "!

However its first name was "Yardloop", as the trains had to loop off the line and into the workshops that operated in the town.