Policy Associate Esperanza Community Housing Corporation, California, United States
Systemic biases (e.g., racism, classism, etc.) and systems of power are driving factors that lead to intentional uneven urban landscapes, including the distribution of environmental pollution and burdens. Cities used policies, such as redlining and expulsive zoning, as mechanisms to create a more racialized urban space that resulted in negative impacts, such as health and environmental disparities, particularly more so in BIPOC low-income communities. This panel presentation explores the disparate patterns of oil and gas extraction in the City of Los Angeles, which is home to one of the largest urban oil fields in the US. State, regional and local policy and regulatory mechanisms, both historical and current, resulted in an unequal siting of oil drilling sites in predominantly BIPOC low-income communities. A vast majority of these hazardous sites are located next to residences, schools, and other sensitive areas. As a result, frontline residents are disproportionately exposed to elevated levels of environmental pollutants and consequently experience higher rates of respiratory-related diseases in places where they live, work, and play. To address these unequal patterns and attributes, community organizers, advocates and residents have galvanized actions at the intersection of science, local knowledge, and personal experience to advance significant regulatory and policy shifts. This panel emphasizes the importance of community organizing and advocacy in advancing solutions to emergent structural properties in LA’s urban landscape, through the ongoing and iterative integration of principles of racial justice, with the goal of creating a more just urban environment.
