It's Oil That Makes LA Boil
Los Angeles, shaped by its oil industry, faces environmental and health risks from urban oil extraction, particularly affecting low-income communities. The city's oil history contrasts with its glamorous image, revealing hidden dangers.
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Los Angeles, often perceived as a glamorous city, has deep roots in the oil industry, which has shaped its urban landscape and development. The author reflects on growing up in an area rich in oil production, particularly near Baldwin Hills and the Inglewood Oil Field, which has been active since the early 20th century. The geological history of the region, formed by seismic activity, has resulted in significant oil reservoirs that contributed to the city's suburban sprawl. The oil boom in California during the 1920s positioned the state as a leading global oil producer, with the Inglewood Oil Field becoming the largest urban oil extraction site in the U.S. today.
However, the presence of oil wells poses serious environmental and health risks, particularly for low-income communities of color living nearby. The extraction process and subsequent burning of fossil fuels contribute to air pollution and various health issues, including respiratory and cardiovascular problems. Despite claims of local oil production being environmentally beneficial, the overall impact of fossil fuels remains detrimental. The author highlights the concealed nature of oil infrastructure in urban settings, where the public is often unaware of the hazardous activities occurring in their neighborhoods. This juxtaposition of Los Angeles as a cultural icon and an oil town underscores the complexities of urban development intertwined with fossil fuel extraction and its consequences on public health and the environment.
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11 commentshttps://www.google.com/maps/@34.0597113,-118.4099141,3a,75y,...
Great reads if you’re interested in the era.
PS: I absolutely loved living in LA. Alas, we only stayed 2 years.
Ugh.
At this moment, 74.2% of California’s electricity is coming from renewables, overwhelmingly solar. Nearly 8% of new cars sold in the US are electric, a similar number of total cars on the road are electric. In ten years it will be nearly 100%.
From the tone of this article, you would think that oil is some kind of purely toxic, useless substance that fiendish villains decided to dig up for fun and hate, "boosterish paper[s] smirk[ing]" all along. I imagine the state of the world if the oilfields in LA and elsewhere had been "left fallow" as the author's misapplied metaphor desires. It is not good: starvation, deprivation, no modern materials or planes, extremely restricted technology development. On the other hand, those of us who still managed to be born likely wouldn't have computers and we'd be spared from having to read this.
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