9021-woe

Remember that episode of 90210 where Brenda and Dylan fell ill from toxic gases leaking out of oil wells and into Beverly Hills High School? Actually, that never happened on the show -- but according to famed environmental legal crusader Erin Brockovich, it happened in real life. Brockovich and her partner, Ed Masry, are preparing to sue Beverly Hills and three oil companies, claiming they ignored carcinogenic gases leaking into the school from active and abandoned wells nearby -- and, in some cases, under the school's playing fields. They say the gases caused cancer in more than 80 former students and school employees. The oil companies named by the suit are Occidental Petroleum, ChevronTexaco, and Venoco.