Few official studies have focused specifically on the potential dangers associated with living near oil derricks, refineries and drilling sites.
Kern County is rich in resources. Dairy farms, cattle farms, fruits and vegetables can all add to a scarcity of air and water, as well as pollution up high or on the ground. So it’s hard to pinpoint exactly who is to blame for a given problem.
“If I go to the board of supervisors and said, ‘Look, oil drilling is doing this to me,’ folks in the industry are going to get up and they're going to tell you, ‘No, you know what, this is not the oil well,’” said Juan Flores, a community organizer for the Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment in Kern County.
Oil industry advocates might say, he added, “‘It's actually the pesticides that they're applying on the fields next to your house, which happened to be where the oil wells are.’ All right. Then you go and say ‘All right, so agriculture, pesticides, right?’" Agriculture is going to get up he added, and blame it on the oil wells.
Such finger-pointing hasn’t helped residents understand why they’re sick. Researchers like Dr. Jill Johnston at the University of Southern California says there’s a growing body of evidence around respiratory health and living in close proximity to an oil well.
A family home less than 100 feet away from a pumpjack in Bakersfield, California.
In a 2021 study, Dr. Johnston and her team found a link between the two. Participants in the study who lived near an oil well had higher rates of wheezing, eye and nose irritation, sore throats and dizziness.
Last year, three South L.A. nonprofits sued the California Independent Petroleum Association claiming the oil wells were releasing toxic chemicals like methanol, hydrofluoric acid and formaldehyde into the air in their neighborhoods.
Dr. Johnston said that the pollution goes beyond just the air quality – the high volume of trucks traveling in and out of the city, difficulties finding parking spots and the oil drilling rigs all help to undermine the quality of health in the area.
“We got a container yard on every block,” says Robert Trani, the founder of the United Wilmington Youth Foundation and lifelong resident of nearby Wilmington. “We have truckers that are going through our residential areas [and] smashing cars, the containers falling off the truck and smashing cars, running over people destroying property, destroying stop signs, signal lights, curbs when they take a turn in a specific area.”
Adding to the pollution of air and soil, water can be contaminated too. According to Dr. Johnston, the pools of dirty water are called holding ponds. They can spill, seep into surface water systems and contaminate groundwater.
Experts like Dr. Johnston say the most serious problems are found in rural areas where there’s a high agricultural production, like Kern County.
An oil derrick in the middle of a ranch in Bakersfield, California.
“They're drilling, there's dust blowing all over the place,” said Flores, who used to spend his summers picking fruit and vegetables under the harsh sun. “You see every single one of the oil workers with this protective equipment. But, 30 feet away, were these farmers picking up the grapes with no equipment whatsoever.”
When he would finally go on break, Flores remembers washing his hands in what could have been contaminated water.
“It was very common for the irrigation system [to be] dropping water on the grapevines,” he said. “The foreman screamed, ‘Lunchtime!’ and everybody would go to the faucets and wash their hands and then would eat. When you don't let them know ahead of time, ‘Don't touch the water,’ they don't know.”
Many residents who live near oil fields don’t know about the potential danger there either. There have been claims of environmental racism made by these afflicted communites. Dr. Johnston says there’s a correlation between systematic marginalization and a lack of environmental protection.
“Many of the communities in California that are living in close proximity to oil and gas drilling are also environmental justice communities,” she said. “[They’re] impacted by multiple sources of both environmental pollution as well as social stressors.”
But many such communities are financially vulnerable. One in five residents of Kern and almost 15% of Los Angeles’ inhabitants live in poverty.
The oil and gas industry in Los Angeles provides jobs for over 36,000 people. More than 19 million gallons of gas are produced by the refineries in Wilmington each year. That amount of gas alone fuels more than 6 million cars. On top of that, the refineries provide over $8.6 billion in tax revenue to the city of Los Angeles.
There’s no denying that many of these oil companies do some good for their neighbors. They bring jobs, many high-paying, to low-income areas and often engage in charitable giving in the communities where they are located.
For example, Valero’s Wilmington refinery is a member of “Success by 6,” a non-profit organization focused on providing access to early childhood education. Valero also partners with local organizations like the LA Harbor Boys & Girls Club. Refineries in Wilmington also provide scholarships and grants for students, nonprofit organizations and small businesses in the area.
“They're the only ones who reach out and at least try to help youth organizations in the community,” says Trani. “I haven't really been approached by anybody else, ever. Nobody steps up because we're a grassroots organization. We're not like the Boys & Girls Club or the YMCA.”
Despite his concerns for his community’s health, Trani says he doesn’t want to completely shut down the refineries in Wilmington because they employ thousands of people.
“We can’t just displace [those workers],” he said “I don't think that's right. I think that [the refineries] serve their purpose because not everybody's driving a damn electric car right now.”
And in some of these communities, folks can’t even afford a car. They walk or take public transport. They need these jobs and they don’t have time to advocate for their own safety.