political power

For people in the Los Angeles area, it is a familiar sight to see oil wells pumping away on hillsides, in residential neighborhoods, and other places. In fancier parts of town, oil wells are hidden behind facades located next door to dry cleaners and lamp stores.

Every year, more than 140 million barrels of oil are extracted from the state of California, coming from a vast subterranean formation that spans nearly the entire state along the coast and spreading inland as well. About 30% of the state’s oil comes from the Los Angeles area.

The oilfields are mostly old, and their wells played out. As a result, high-tech drilling and a slew of toxic chemicals are needed to extract the last dregs of crude oil.

Unlike more rural oil-producing states, where oilfields might be uninhabited except for the people who work on them, drilling in California happens to a large degree in residential settings. Over the years, it has become increasingly clear that certain chemical byproducts of oil extraction, among them benzene and hydrogen sulfate, can cause a variety of health problems. For example, recent research has found connections between exposure to oil and gas well sites and spontaneous pre-term births, low-birthweight babies, and other adverse birth outcomes.

Statewide, little is being done to protect residents and schoolchildren from any of the suspected consequences of living near an oil or gas well. Regulations are weak and spottily enforced because the oil industry still wields a lot of political power in the state. Environmental groups and justice advocates are actively seeking to create new protections for California citizens, but it remains an uphill battle.

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The Oil Well Next Door: California’s Silent Health Hazard

Photo, posted July 11, 2017, courtesy of John Ciccarelli / Bureau of Land Management California via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Cities and towns across the United States continue to wrestle with the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and none have been hit harder than low-income and minority communities. Places like Detroit, Chicago, and St. James Parish in Louisiana have suffered from decades of economic inequality and pollution in their poorest neighborhoods and many of these same places have experienced some of the highest mortality rates from the virus.

Recent studies have shown a link between high levels of pollution and the risk of death from COVID-19. Pollution of various kinds are higher in low-income communities and communities of color. Such communities don’t have a strong political voice so that laws and environmental regulations are not enforced like there are in white, higher-income communities. Thus, these communities have highways, landfills, factories, chemical facilities, paper mills, and other pollution sources that communities with economic power – and therefore political power – manage to avoid.

People living in low-income communities and communities of color tend to have higher rates of underlying health conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and asthma. They have less healthy diets – more fast food and fewer grocery stores. Part of the reason these communities have a higher risk of mortality from COVID-19 infection is that many people have reduced lung capacity as a result of exposure to pollutants.

The Trump administration has been suspending enforcement of environmental regulations during the pandemic. Communities already affected by environmental injustice will bear the brunt of this decision. Groups like nursing home populations, meat packers, prisoners and the poor are suddenly highly visible. COVID-19 is exposing the real differences between the Haves and the Have-Nots in this country.

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Connecting the Dots Between Environmental Injustice and the Coronavirus

Photo, posted May 2, 2006, courtesy of Sean Benham via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

California’s Silent Health Hazard | Earth Wise

For people in the Los Angeles area, it is a familiar sight to see oil wells pumping away on hillsides, in residential neighborhoods, and other places. In fancier parts of town, oil wells are hidden behind facades located next door to dry cleaners and lamp stores.

Web Links

Environmental Injustice And the Coronavirus | Earth Wise

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