I often think about the children who
live in this neighborhood you know their
bodies are smaller and more sensitive to
toxins there's an elementary school just
two blocks away from here so sometimes
in the afternoon when I see kids with
their parents and they have to walk by
this drill set on their way back home it
really breaks my heart
yeah crude oil which is where we get our
transportation fuels transportation
fuels are critically important part of
our economy it's what fuels the farmers
tractor who grows the food who fuels the
truck that brings the food to our
supermarkets and it fuels our cars that
get us to see our family and get us to
our jobs and back again gotta live with
it can't live without it behind me is
the entrance to the Aliso Canyon natural
gas storage facility here on the
northern outskirts of the city of LA and
here is where for nearly four months the
worst natural gas leak in US history
took place unleashing 96 thousand metric
tons of methane into the atmosphere
seriously setting back California's
mission goals and affecting the lives of
thousands of people in these surrounding
communities
but there's an even bigger story here
the fact that Porter Ranch isn't alone
all over Southern California oil and gas
facilities manage enormous reservoirs of
natural gas extract crude oil from under
our feet and refine oil to make fuel
it's how LA functions but it's a
landscape that poses health risks for
residents and few people are aware of it
and the players and the government
officials that could be held responsible
barely pay any attention to it all the
hillsides just north of Porter Ranch
look almost like a park they actually
house the Aliso Canyon storage facility
a huge network of underground wells
owned by utility called SoCal gas
supplying natural gas used to generate
electricity and heat for residents all
over LA this facility was a major oil
field until it was depleted in the 1970s
and turned into a storage site due to
decades of lacs maintenance and natural
gas wall began leaking odorless and
colorless methane a greenhouse gas into
the atmosphere started last October 23rd
until February 18th the leak became a
huge story the state stepped in ordering
SoCal gas to relocate affected residents
we met with one of those families at a
hotel where they have been stayin since
November in February they welcomed a new
addition to their family a baby girl as
of April that were still displaced now
they say that the league has been shut
are you planning to return to your homes
we're talking about it weighing our
options kind of waiting to see what
comes out there cuz right now they're
starting to do these individual testings
in homes to see if it's truly safe the
levels that I've seen posted have shown
some spikes even after the family yeah
I'm just waiting to see more information
whether it's truly safe my instinct says
it's not and it could be a long time
before it is truly a safe area to return
a lot of people who live nearby later
admitted they had no idea what took
place at the Aliso Canyon site before
the leak
that's probably by design Los Angeles
County is really blanketed by such
facilities more than 5,000 active and
inactive oil wells in LA County alone
and in fancier parts of town oil
drilling sites are often masked to look
like office buildings or are covered
from view that's not the case though in
South LA Nicky tell us what is just over
this verdant green wall here to my right
yeah right over here we have an active
oil and gas extraction site sitting in
the middle of a residential neighborhood
the site is owned and operated by
freeport-mcmoran it's called the
Jefferson drill site it's a very dense
low-income neighborhood and you know
most people when they think of South LA
or LA in general they don't realize that
the city itself is basically one big oil
field yeah exactly it's really
interesting la is most often known for
Hollywood and the film industry but the
city was actually built on oil even as
early as the 1900s if you look at photos
there can be oil rigs all over city over
beaches this jewel site was established
in 1965
a Los Angeles basin is the largest urban
oil field in the country oil production
began in the late 19th century about the
1930s Southern California was considered
the most productive oil region in the
whole world in the mid 20th century oil
drilling kept expanding the growth of
the automobile industry propelled oil
and gas to new heights poor planning and
regulation led to the construction of
homes and schools near drilling sites
and vice versa
today LA produces roughly 28 million
barrels of oil a year so right here I
mean right between us this apartment
complex mm-hmm and an actor yeah it's
about six really site right here yeah
exactly
Wow so whenever there's activity on this
side of the drilling site I like to just
kind of climb onto this wall use this
bar as a leg lift so he can do that oh I
see these grates you see on the ground
is where the 36 well heads are located
and as you describe them they kind of
spread out after digging down a couple
thousand feet yeah these wells are
horizontal wells so they go straight
down for several thousand feet and then
they spider out through the entire
neighborhood underground under homes and
here you have apartments right here or
just overlooking the site yeah it's
crazy how close it is
and yeah neighbors will complain that
close windows can't keep the smells out
so it's just all sorts of like kind of
glaring nuisances on top of the constant
fear and worry of you know what if an
accident happens they see these giant
trucks pull in carrying thousands of
gallons of chemicals and acids I often
think about the children who live in
this neighborhood you know their bodies
are smaller and more susceptible and
sensitive to toxins there's an
elementary school just two blocks away
from here so sometimes in
noon when I see kids being walked home
with their parents and they have to walk
by this drill set on their way back home
it really breaks my heart
oil drilling sites and gas storage
facilities emit fumes containing
carcinogens such as benzene that are
known to the state of California to
cause cancer and birth defects
however despite years of studies it
remains difficult to prove a certain oil
drilling site is linked to a specific
illness or condition one major study in
2011 on the Inglewood oil field for
example found no conclusive link between
various health problems and the drilling
activity but other studies elsewhere
have found that harmful air pollutants
can collect
near oil and gas wells regulatory
agencies don't gather enough information
environmentalists say yet the symptoms
that some residents report definitely
real this is now Yeley coal at just 15
years old she is a prominent
environmental justice advocate in Los
Angeles she grew up right across the
street from the Allen Co drilling site
in South LA I attended statements in
school which is about two blocks away
from the uncle site and I remember being
in school and like always having
nosebleeds are always being sent to the
office because of headaches or stomach
pains or nausea I was constantly being
exposed to these toxic emissions with
all the attention given to fracking
lately little is known about acid izing
a similar technique to extract
difficult-to-reach oil that was once
used at the Allen co site and which
continues to be used in other facilities
oxidizing requires the use of
hydrofluoric acid to dissolve rocks and
release oil I call on Allen company to
suspend its operations immediately Alan
Koh was shut down in November 2013 after
inspectors fell ill while touring the
facility since then the company has
sought to resume operations as soon as
it shut down my health went back to
normal I don't have headaches anymore I
stopped having nosebleeds
didn't have stomach pains or anything
else we cannot independently verify the
statements made by Nayeli that's because
a Lenco did not return our calls or
requests for comment neither did
freeport-mcmoran owners of the jefferson
site information on oil companies
operating in LA is hard to come by
regulatory meetings and hearings or
lawsuits are the primary sources of
information on what they do in LA GLAAD
Easley mone is the staff attorney at a
group called communities for a better
environment she filed a complaint in
November against the city of LA on
behalf of a group of people who say
proximity to oil drilling sites exposes
them to toxins that threaten their
health the case is working its way
through the courts we are a legend as a
city has systematically violated
communities rights and so we are hoping
that the city will not just abide by
existing laws but really understand and
take seriously the hazards that it is
constantly exposing as residents to and
particularly children who are more
vulnerable to the impacts and right now
people were talking a lot about Porter
Ranch and the issue with the natural gas
leak that happened there so what
happened at Porter Ranch is unacceptable
and it's a catastrophe
and we have stood by the people of
Porter Ranch and asking for the should I
know that facility the difference has
been in the response of elected
officials they relocated the schools of
the children whereas in communities of
color in South LA in Wilmington you
haven't had that response you haven't
had evacuations or medical monitoring so
there's a sort of institutionalized
racism in which what is deemed
unacceptable for particular communities
is deemed acceptable for other
communities
well here we are in a typical la scene
driving on the freeway this is the 110
heading south towards Long Beach we're
on our way to meet the chief operating
officer signal failed petroleum and we
want to hear their side of the story
about the role of the oil industry here
in LA Signal Hill petroleum is a small
oil company in your Long Beach that is
not involved in the Alan Koh or
Jefferson sights that's it right there
that's mmm black gold
now you've been initiated David Slater
argues that nuisances associated with
certain sites in LA are outliers and
that the majority of drilling for oil
happens safely and what's exactly going
on here for someone who has no clue
we're walking up to a beam type pumping
in it we can see it lifting right now
steel rod and they run down about 5,000
feet and they're connected to a plunger
pump and so every time that unit lifts
up that plunger is lifting the column of
fluid to the surface and some of the
pumping systems are completely contained
below the wellhead so you would just see
a fence you really wouldn't have a
visual indication or a producing oil
well at that location right now I come
smell like a coal like an asphalt sort
of smell what what is that is that the
oil itself well I'm not smelling it but
I don't have the best sense of smell so
the guys playing ball over here have no
risk whatsoever engaging in physical
activity just about 10 feet away from
this pump I say confidently know we have
periodically done air monitoring around
our operations just as a triple check we
are perfectly safe standing here Slater
went on to describe the harsh realities
of living in an oil-based economy so
this is an industry that is maybe the
most necessary for the way of life of
Southern California then why do you
think it's so demonized transportation
fuels are critically important in a part
of our economy it's what fuels the
farmers tractor who grows the food he
we have fuels the truck that brings the
food to our supermarkets and it fuels
our cars that get us to see our family
and get us to our jobs and back again
and it is just an integrated part of our
lifestyle but it's very integrated part
of our economy
so you got to live with it can't live
without it sure the industry is
integrated into our economy but its
effects on some communities cannot be
denied Signal Hill Petroleum sends crew
to be refined in nearby Wilmington we
had it there after meeting with David
Slater and spoke to neighborhood
residents who complained of constant
symptoms odors and noise from the
Phillips sixty-six refinery
yeah well you're eating well oh c'mon
wave ohh-ho drizzle petrol petrol
electrode Oh aha ESO cuando se voile ESO
la cabeza la nariz our Davis gente ESO
salud are no Aaron Lozano Yo no voy el
fuerte que hace Sara MELAS Ventanas
puerta no podemos tener ovn yo Pina del
negocio y como las employees see lo
Travis are an intern effector a la gente
esta bien para su negocio y oh no ya
sabe ellos dijeron pero como
like for me they'll say you're
okay make it 7-0 we as Bob neshama
sander a health expert about the hazards
affiliated with this industry and why
it's so difficult to pinpoint a specific
source of harm so we know a lot about
what comes out of oil fields benzene
toluene ethylene and xylene are the four
they're called BTX chemicals and they
are volatile organic compounds you know
there's not a lot of data on some of the
things like more captain's which is the
stuff they put in gas to make it smell
which is what happened in Port around
which is what happened in Porter Ranch
and so what's making people sick is
probably some combination of all of
those chemical exposures so who is at
risk then and why so we think of these
as vulnerable communities and or you
know sensitive populations so children
the elderly and pregnant women I've
noticed time and again that elected
officials and the oil companies sort of
say that there's not enough conclusive
evidence to directly link this oil cite
to this cluster of symptoms or maybe
this cluster of cancer why is that when
there's a lot of facilities operating
it's hard to say X facility caused why
cancer but we do know in LA these things
operate three feet to 30 feet from a
house and that is kind of unimaginable
in most parts of the country and we
don't have good data on it because the
air district actually doesn't monitor
who ultimately is supposed to monitor
and regulate all this so the 1970s we
pass a Clean Air Act the Clean Water Act
the California Environmental Quality Act
all the things that are set thresholds
for emissions that we follow as a
country and as a state we have more
stringent standards but some of these
facilities are permitted before the
nation's environmental laws came into
effect in the 1960s for example
freeport-mcmoran feel that they operate
in South LA was permitted and they were
to grandfathered it without having to
abide by the nation's environmental laws
we wanted to find out where the LA
government stands on the health and
safety concerns raised by residents we
visited City Hall and reached out to the
city council members whose districts
covered the drilling sites in South LA
none returned our request for an
interview the office of the mayor
eventually provided us with written
statement
it's chief sustainability officer Matt
Peterson it's said the community's
concerns and the nuisances they describe
a real but that the city's authority to
do anything about it is limited
basically passing the buck to the state
regulators and the AQMD the regional air
pollution agency
I imagine that before this suit was
filed your organization others had made
efforts to reach out to the city of La
and ask them to look into this issue
what are some of the barriers and
roadblocks that you've come across and
in some of those efforts the oil
industry is extremely powerful the
decision-making around these facilities
and the laws are supposed to protect
people ultimately doesn't come down to
whether a politician is progressive or a
Democrat or a person of color it comes
down to the influence that the industry
has and the willingness of elected
officials to take a stand and protect
communities and that has not happened in
the city of Los Angeles what I
understand that they do supply sort of
the gas that is used in the city of La I
mean what is the way to really mitigate
the effects of the operation so I think
the question is whether it is okay to
have these highly dangerous inherently
industrial operations happening right
next to homes and schools is that
acceptable is it acceptable to sacrifice
the lives of thousands and thousands of
children of color and families I think
the answer is no fossil fuel advocates
say that we basically can't live without
oil it surrounds our lives and our cars
appliances glasses headphones and
therefore oil companies should be able
to continue to operate in urban settings
California uses the majority of the oil
it produces and it actually has to
import 2 times as much in order to meet
its consumption demands those tanker is
about a million and a half barrels of
crude oil so that's you know 80 million
dollars plus sailing out of our economy
where we're producing the most
environmentally clean barrel of oil in
the world with the smallest carbon
footprint and so we can produce it here
and have it pay taxes and create jobs or
we can bring it in on a ship and it
would argue let's use the friendly
barrel before we go to the dirty barrel
communities near drill sites keep
reporting adverse health effects but the
burden is placed on the residents to
demonstrate harm a lack of comprehensive
studies allows both regulators and oil
companies to skirt responsibility over
any potential long-term effects on
people's health it's a startling reality
especially considering the fact that one
in three LA County residents live within
a mile of an oil drilling site according
to the Natural Resources Defense Council
many of course barely even realize it
some neighbors say the sites are making
them sick and others shrug it off
arguing that this is simply what life is
about in an oil industry town like LA
you