South LA youth, non-profits sue city over neighborhood oil drilling



At its closest point, the Jefferson drill site is only three feet from homes. | Caitlyn Hynes, Intersections South L.A.

A few blocks west of the University of Southern California, behind ivy-covered walls, is the Jefferson oil-drilling site. The walls may block neighbors from seeing what goes on behind them, but they know, nonetheless.

Now, South Los Angeles youth, tired of living near toxic chemicals with little protection, are joining together with environmental non-profits to sue the city.

The Jefferson drilling site, owned and operated by Freeport-McMoran Inc., is one of the sites named in a lawsuit brought against the city. Located in the heart of a South Los Angeles neighborhood, the site is protected only by a retaining wall that neighbors say does little to contain the noise and odors produced by drilling. Other South L.A. sites face similar problems.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit, the South Central Youth Leadership Coalition, Communities for a Better Environment, and the Center for Biological Diversity, held a press conference last Friday to announce the case. The groups allege that the city has not only violated regulations from the California Environmental Quality Act by issuing exemptions for environmental impact reports on oil drilling and production sites, but that it has also forced residents of color to bear disproportionate environmental and health burdens because of the lack of safety measures around several South Los Angeles sites.

Standing outside City Hall Friday with signs with that read, “Our health is not for sale” and, “Ain’t no power like the power of youth,” the minors stood behind speakers who demanded that the city comply with the California Environmental Quality Act by conducting environmental impact reports and providing better protection from, odors, toxins and noise pollution at the drilling sites.

“Our health and our environment are at risk. Community members should not have to jeopardize their health by simply being at home,” high school student Joshua Navarro told the press.

The lawsuit comes on the heels of an October audit that found that since 2007, most Los Angeles oil sites have not been subjected to an environmental impact report assessing the site’s health and environmental impacts on surrounding communities.

Reports from Al-Jazeera America found that the Jefferson drilling location is one of the sites lacking such documentation.  It is currently unclear why these oversights have continued.

Protests and this lawsuit against oil companies have drawn the support of youth who live in the neighborhoods surrounding the Jefferson drill site. Many of the kids involved have lived around the site for years. They’ve smelled the chemicals and heard the loud sounds that often accompany drilling.

Elena Hume, 10, has been involved with several protests. She said she and her family would smell the chemicals as they went on walks around their neighborhood.

“I never knew it was an oil-drilling site. We’d see the bushes, and the rows of trees, and the big yellow gate,” Hume said. But now she knows what is happening and she feels it’s wrong to expose her neighborhood to the fumes of the toxic chemicals.

Jordan Parks, 12, has lived near the site his entire life. For a long time he and his family didn’t know exactly what was behind the walls. But when his father discovered it was an oil-drilling site, “Everyone started realizing how incredibly bad it was,” Jordan said.

Youth from the neighborhood around the Jefferson site, brought together by school, church and neighborhood tutoring programs, have become more involved in the issue through protests at the drilling site over the past few years.

Richard Parks, Jordan’s father, said that the kids were the ones who wanted to take action. He said the youth wanted to initiate the process because their homes and families were being directly affected.

A report from the National Resources Defense Council found that the chemicals used at oil drilling sites have been linked to cancer and other reproductive health problems. Neighbors have also blamed the site for headaches, nosebleeds and asthma.

Tanja Srebotnjak, a professor at Harvey Mudd College who has worked in oil and gas research for over fifteen years, said that the closer neighbors are to the chemicals used at oil drilling sites, the more susceptible they are to health complications.

“Farther is better and some states and municipalities have set distances ranging…up to 1,500 feet, 2,000 feet,” Srebotnjak said.

But a 2014 Community Health Councils study found that South L.A. drilling sites located in neighborhoods with high percentages of people of color were significantly closer to homes, schools and churches than sites in West L.A.

While the average distance from homes, schools and churches in South L.A. is 85 feet, the West L.A. and Wilshire sites, located in primarily white neighborhoods, are about 400 feet away.

Many West L.A. sites also have enclosed structures or some type of geographic barrier like a golf course that can help mitigate noise and odors. The Jefferson site, in contrast, has only a retaining wall as physical protection.

Niki Wong of Redeemer Community Partnership, a South L.A. non-profit that works in the neighborhood around the Jefferson drill site, estimated that the wells at the site are a mere 60 feet from homes, a distance that almost certainly exposes residents to toxins. Without an environmental impact report, it is hard to know exactly how the community would be affected if an explosion or other accident were to happen on the site.

Wong said that it is key to involve the youth of the neighborhood in this effort. “It’s important for them [to recognize] the need for a healthy and safe environment to grow up in.”

As for the kids around the Jefferson drill site, they say they just want their neighborhood to be safe for families. “It’d be nice if they just shut [the drilling site] down and turned it into a park or something, or more housing,” said Jordan.

The city attorney’s office told the Los Angeles Times that it will review the lawsuit.

 

South LA residents march to protest neighborhood oil drilling



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By Diana Lee, Intersections South LA and Pierce Larsen, Annenberg TV News 

South L.A. residents protested against oil company Freeport McMoRan yesterday by marching through Jefferson Boulevard in their fight against disruptive – and potentially hazardous – drilling operations.

This isn’t the first time Freeport has clashed with residents over their concerns about noxious fumes, truck traffic and health hazards. The company, which runs 34 wells in Jefferson Park near the University of Southern California, faced numerous criticisms from residents when it tried to get a permit to expand its site last November.

The oil and gas group announced yesterday that it would be conducting a “routine cleanout,” according to issue advocacy group RALLY. In response, locals traveled to the drill site on Jefferson while holding signs and singing, “Stand together!” Others followed with: “…against neighborhood drilling.”

But the trucks didn’t come rolling in like the residents expected. In a gathering before the march, community organizer Niki Wong told residents that 15 minutes before the scheduled 7 a.m. visit, she got a notification that Freeport had cancelled.

“There is no maintenance work planned for today,” Freeport told Intersections in a statement.

Wong, who represents the Redeemer Community Partnership, decided to continue with the protest.

She said what the company calls a “routine cleanout” essentially refers to acid drop, in which they bring tens of thousands of gallons of hydrochloric acid and corrosive liquids to put into the area’s wells.

“The process for why they do it and how they do it is not very clear,” she said.

Wong believes the company has not been transparent about its practice to the residents, who only began getting work notices since 2012 through the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the agency in charge of air pollution control for Los Angeles. She wondered if the company got tipped off about their planned march and decided to call off their visit.

The company said it provided notice to the management district to conduct “routine and conventional well maintenance work,” comparing the task to what might be performed on water supply wells in Los Angeles, as well as all over the world.

Freeport said in a statement: “The work is designed to remove calcium deposits from building up inside the well bore. Rumors and assertions that hydraulic fracturing or well stimulation work are being planned are not accurate.” The notice given to the SCAQMD shows there was no plan for hydraulic fracturing, a process of using high pressure to pump liquid down a well and fracture the rock.

The agency received 29 order complaints about the oil company’s practices in 2014, according to spokesman Sam Atwood. After investigating these claims, SCAQMD issued two violations to Freeport over air pollution and odor.

Atwood said he thinks the oil company was told about the protest, but is unsure if that was the reason it called off their plan for maintenance acidizing.

Whether the trucks carrying toxic chemicals are responsible for health problems is still unproven.

But Kathryn Wiley, co-founder of Church of the Redeemer, said her sons now experience asthma and bloody noses. She worries that air pollution caused by oil sites is the culprit.

“I physically have seen these trucks come in and out around 6:30 or 7 in the morning,” she said. “They have people standing out, rushing them in before anybody could see them.”

Like Intersections on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and sign up for the Newsletter to stay in the loop on news and views from South L.A. Follow the author on Twitter at @atdianalee.

Also see this story at Annenberg TV News.

Freeport withdraws oil drilling expansion in South LA



Stephanie Monte

Freeport McMoRan facility at 1371 Jefferson Blvd. | Stephanie Monte

When the Freeport-McMoRan petroleum company announced last month that it will withdraw a controversial plan to drill new oil wells in South L.A., many residents and activists cheered, hoping for better air quality in their communities.

But the oil giant, which already runs 34 wells in Jefferson Park near USC, says it chose not to move forward with the proposal to drill new wells at its Budlong site simply for economic reasons: declining oil prices are thinning operating margins.

“The decision to withdraw the application was prompted primarily in response to the steep decline in commodity prices,” company spokesman Eric Kinneberg told the L.A. Times. [Read more…]

Community seeks environmental study for South LA oil site



A packed house turned out at City Hall to discuss plans for the Budlong drill site. | Matt Tinoco

A packed house turned out at City Hall to discuss plans for the Budlong drill site. | Matt Tinoco

More than 150 Angelenos showed up at City Hall on Tuesday to voice concerns about oil giant Freeport McMoRan’s plans to expand operations in its urban-drilling facility located in South L.A. near the University of Southern California.

A room on the 10th floor of City Hall was filled with a sea of Angelenos from various walks of life, ranging from the working-class residents of apartment buildings bordering the facility to committed ecological warriors residing in Hollywood Hills.

Their collective demand was simple: Require a full environmental impact report before permitting the oil company to proceed with its plans for expansion. This meeting had been organized to allow the public to direct comments to Maya Zaitzevsky, associate zoning administrator for Los Angeles.

See also: West Adams neighbors seek to oust oil production [Read more…]