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Mark Katchen, managing principal of the environmental consulting firm The Phylmar Group, was featured as an environmental expert in the book Erin Brockovich and the Beverly Hills Greenscam.
In a candid account of the controversy surrounding  an oil well at Beverly Hills High School, journalist Norma Zager chronicles the community's saga in dealing with controversial allegations that the well was the source of cancer-causing chemicals. The president of the California Civil Association of California, John H. Sullivan, called the book "gutsy, inspiring reporting," adding that "journalism schools everywhere should make Erin Brockovich and the Beverly Hills Greenscam required reading."
In 2003, legal assistant Erin Brockovich and attorney Ed Masry sued the Beverly Hills Unified School District, alleging that some 300 cancer cases were linked to a cluster of oil wells on campus. The then- editor of the local weekly newspaper, Norma Zager, was skeptical, however, and, as the Columbia Journalism Review put it, "helped uncover what appears to be a Hollywood heroine's campaign of deception." In fact, a Superior Court judge granted summary judgment against the plaintiffs and Brockovich and Masry had to reimburse the school district $450,000 for its legal expenses.
Thanked by name in the acknowledgments, Mark Katchen served as the environmental consultant for the Beverly Hills school district and conducted several tests as a neutral party throughout the litigation against the district. He is quoted extensively throughout the book, which is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other retailers. |
