Night falls on the Hinkley Market and Gas, whose owner worries that if enough residents sell their homes to Pacific Gas & Electric, he will not have enough customers left to stay in business. PG&E has offered to buy out 314 homeowners who live within a mile of a chromium-tainted plume of groundwater. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
A home bought and boarded up by PG&E up sits on a lot in Hinkley. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Daron Banks plays catch with son Aiden, 5, in the dusty yard of his family’s home in Hinkley. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
A school bus rolls down a road in Hinkley after dropping off the last student last week. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Helen and Tom Hare relax in their yard in Hinkley. They built the property from a sandy lot into a lush haven. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Mailboxes on a dusty street in Hinkley. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Roberta Walker looks out over the desert from her daughter’s home in Hinkley. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
A post without a real estate sign in Hinkley. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
