The City of Los Angeles is being sued by multiple environmental justice groups, including two youth groups, for racially discriminatory practices in granting permits for oil drilling in the city. A November 6 press release from the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the plaintiffs in the suit, states:
The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court by Youth for Environmental Justice, South Central Youth Leadership Coalition (SCYLC) and the Center for Biological Diversity, says the city has illegally allowed oil companies to drill hundreds of oil wells in residential neighborhoods across the city without assessing health and environmental threats linked to conventional drilling and extreme extraction techniques, like acidizing.
The suit charges that the city has a longstanding practice of rubberstamping oil projects as exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act, California’s most comprehensive environmental law.
The suit also alleges an illegal and discriminatory pattern of creating weaker environmental protections for drill sites in areas with a vast majority of people of color, like Wilmington and South Los Angeles. For example, the city requires west-side sites to use electric rigs to reduce diesel emissions and noise pollution, but allows loud and contaminating diesel rigs in South L.A. and Wilmington. These rigs fill adjacent homes with toxic fumes that closed windows cannot keep out. The city also required heavy soundproofing for West L.A. drill sites with neighboring homes, but left drill sites in South L.A. and Wilmington exposed to their neighbors. The deafening din of diesel rigs driving pipes into the ground robs residents of peace and quiet in their homes.
Maya Golden-Krasner, staff attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, told Daily Kos that in the affected neighborhoods, “in some cases [drilling] can be as close as next door.” Golden-Krasner also noted that “there is a place in Wilmington where the oil drilling shares the same block as a Little League Baseball field.” The lawsuit alleges disparate impact of permit-granting, and that the city has in essence provided more protections against soil, water, air, and noise pollution in mostly white neighborhoods than in black or Latino neighborhoods.
Environmental justice is a vital part of social justice and activism for communities of color. Black and Latino communities are more likely to face severe health risks from environmental risk, and children of color face high rates of asthma and lead exposure. The Environmental Protection Agency’s environmental justice initiatives are designed to combat circumstances like those happening in Los Angeles, but evidence suggests that racial and ethnic environmental injustice is still rampant across the country. The press release for the suit was released on the same day that President Obama rejected the Keystone XL Pipeline, which was also eyed for potential environmental justice concerns.