Erin Brockovich joins Down Under refinery fight

CANBERRA, Aug 7 (Reuters) With just a hint of Hollywood, famed US environment warrior Erin Brockovich has joined Australian anti-mine activists in what they believe may be the fight of their lives.

Brockovich, who in the 1990s took on California power company Pacific Gas in a struggle turned into a Hollywood film starring Julia Roberts, added her weight this week to a possible class action suit against mining giant Alcoa in Western Australia state.

History, Brockovich said, might be repeating itself in the tiny town of Yarloop, south of Perth, where local residents have complained of health problems they blame on emissions from the nearby Alcoa bauxite refinery.

''We think we live in a big world but it's really smaller than you think,'' Brockovich told local media yesterday.

''Somebody from the area that was sick, from what they believe to be Alcoa, e-mailed me. I was intrigued with her illnesses and concerned at what she was suffering through.'' Alcoa said the company's Wagerup refinery had been tested independently and found to be safe.

''Wagerup refinery meets the most stringent health and environmental standards in the world,'' the company said in a statement, offering to brief Brockovich ''on any matters that may be of interest to her''.

''Alcoa has nothing to hide and will continue to take a transparent and responsible approach to the public release of scientific information about the refinery,'' the company said.

Brockovich won a US-record 333 million dollar from Pacific Gas after uncovering a scheme to conceal contamination of groundwater in the town of Hinkley. The saga was turned into the film Erin Brockovich, for which Roberts won an Oscar.

Yarloop residents told Brockovich they believed the Alcoa mine was causing breathing problems, skin irritation, chronic fatigue, mental problems, nosebleeds and even cancer over an 11-year period.

An Australian legal firm, Shine Lawyers, based in Queensland state on Australia's east coast has offered to fight the case on behalf of 160 Yarloop residents on a no-win, no-cost basis.

''It's far too early to start talking dollars. What we do know is, something has gone terribly wrong. In terms of how much money would compensate these people for what has happened, the short answer is as many dollars as it takes,'' Shine Lawyers Partner Simon Morrison told Australian Associated Press.

''What we are about is not about shutting Alcoa down. It's about accountability and for them to take full responsibility for what they've done,'' Yarloop resident and Community Alliance for Positive Solutions action group chairman Vince Puccio said.

REUTERS RN BST1200