PG&E Hinkley Chromium Cleanup

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Hinkley Compressor Station Chromium Contamination Cleanup

PG&E's natural gas Compressor Station is located approximately two miles southeast of the town of Hinkley and a dozen miles west of Barstow in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County. Between 1952 and 1966, PG&E used hexavalent chromium, also known as chromium 6, to fight corrosion in cooling tower water. The wastewater from the cooling towers was discharged to unlined ponds at the site. Some of the wastewater percolated to the groundwater, resulting in hexavalent chromium pollution. The chromium affects an area of groundwater at least eight miles long and two miles wide.  Chromium plume maps through time are listed on the bottom of this webpage.

PG&E is under orders from the Lahontan Water Board to stop plume expansion and clean up the chromium plume. Monthly monitoring reports by PG&E demonstrate that the chromium plume is currently being contained south of Thompson Road. 

Below are certain documents related to some of these corrective actions. All documents associated with the project are available at the Lahontan Water Board office in Victorville and on the State Water Board’s database called GeoTracker at http://geotracker.waterboards.ca.gov/.

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Announcements

  • NOW AVAILABLE – PG&E's Hexavalent Chromium Background Value Evaluation
  • NOW AVAILABLE – Amended Cleanup and Abatement Order No. R6V-2015-0068-A1, Requiring Pacific Gas and Electric Company to Clean Up and Abate Waste Discharges of Total and Hexavalent Chromium to the Groundwaters of the Mojave Hydrologic Unit, San Bernardino County (See Link Below under Cleanup Orders)

Water Board Orders

Cleanup Orders

Remediation Permits

Public Health Information

USGS Chromium Background Study

Background Study Project Information Report from USGS now available:

Chromium Background Study

Other Documents and Information

Status of Actions

Map of Chromium Plume (Maps prior to 2022 can be found on the Document Archive page)

Questions or Comments?