Brown, Matt

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Sustainable Development Law & PolicyVolume 3Issue 1 Fall/Winter 2003 Article 8David, Goliath and the Beach Cleaning Machine:How a Small California Town Fought an OilGiant—And Won! By Barbara Wolcott, CapitalBooksMatt BrownFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/sdlpPart of the Environmental Law CommonsThis Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Washington College of Law Journals & Law Reviews at Digital Commons @American University Washington College of Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Sustainable Development Law & Policy by an authorizedadministrator of Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law. For more information, please contactfbrown@wcl.american.edu.Recommended CitationBrown, Matt. "David, Goliath and the Beach Cleaning Machine: How a Small California Town Fought an Oil Giant—And Won! ByBarbara Wolcott." Sustainable Development Law and Policy, Summer/Fall 2003, 28.    SUMMER/FALL 2003               28DAVID, GOLIATH AND THE BEACH CLEANINGMACHINE: HOW A SMALL CALIFORNIA TOWNFOUGHT AN OIL GIANT—AND WON!Barbara WolcottCapital Books; 232 pg. $25.00.Reviewed By Matt BrownBOOK REVIEWWhat does a lawyer, two years out of law school,running on a dirty beach on the central coast ofCalifornia have to do with a major lawsuit against anoil giant?  That’s the question that Barbara Wolcott answers inDavid, Goliath and the Beach Cleaning Machine: How a Small CaliforniaTown Fought an Oil Giant—And Won!Wolcott’s book focuses on the small town of  AvilaBeach and how its citizens, upon learning that they were sittingon top of a large oil plume, fought to have Unocal, the companythat had supported the town for so long, clean up the mess.At the center of the action are the lawyers and the bureaucratswho go up against the mighty corporation. The book describeshow the environmental lawyers, the water experts, county andstate politicians, state and county bureaucrats, the U.S. ArmyCorps of  Engineers, the California Attorney General’s Officeamong others gathered their forces and used the full legal andregulatory arsenal at their disposal to hold Unocal responsible.Unocal, as it could be imagined, using its mantra of “spend nodime before its time” fought these gathered forces tooth andnail not to be held responsible for the oil plume.  They usedmoney, paper work, obfuscation, public relations campaigns,political pressure and, of course, legal maneuvering all in attemptto thwart the tiny town’s efforts to force the oil company totake responsibility.  In the end, when all the data was collectedand the all facts surrounding leaks in the company’s oil pipelineswere known, Unocal decided to settle and the lawyers,bureaucrats, and townspeople got what they wanted—anenvironmentally clean and safe Avila Beach.Or did everyone get what they wanted?  In thebackground are Avila Beach’s citizens—a collection of  the oldand young, the working class and the professional, broughttogether in this experience.  During the suit their homes lostvalue.   Because Avila Beach was a “company town” the townwas divided between those that worked and were loyal toUnocal and those opposed to the environmental hazards thatthe company had created. The citizens of  Avila Beach alsolived in fear for their health, as conflicting answers were givenas to the possible affects of the pollution.  This was onlyexacerbated by the arrival of Ed Masry and his sidekick ErinBrockovich (both of  whom Wolcott criticizes harshly) whoplayed on the fears of  the residents of  Avila Beach.  For thosethat called Avila Beach home, the legal triumph was a disasteras some lost their businesses and still others lost their homes.As a result of  the settlement, Avila Beach’s downtown had tobe destroyed—a downtown that had been the focal point andheart of  town life.  Wolcott highlights this tragedy in theaftermath of  the environmental catastrophe.  As the town wasslowly dismantled, the town celebrated its past and it saidgoodbye to its landmarks.In Wolcott’s exploration of  Avila Beach’s struggle, thebook provides a great introduction to the ins and outs ofwhat happens in an environmental lawsuit for the novice lawyer.In its chronicling Unocal’s tactics, it provides the inexperiencedlawyer with insight into the roadblocks that will be thrown in aplaintiff ’s way.  Wolcott also grimly illustrates the sometimesharsh costs of winning—the destruction of the heart of a town,the loss of residents, businesses, and tourists, and in the case ofAvila Beach—a bit of  the “funkiness” that the town cherished.David, Goliath and the Beach Cleaning Machine, may not be as rivetingor compelling a read as A Civil Action, but it stands on its ownas a further exploration of how the law helps us bring aboutenvironmental justice.

David, Goliath and the Beach Cleaning Machine: How a Small California Town Fought an Oil Giant—And Won! By Barbara Wolcott, Capital Books

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David, Goliath and the Beach Cleaning Machine: How a Small California Town Fought an Oil Giant—And Won! By Barbara Wolcott, Capital Books

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