Many lifelong residents of Los Angeles have health impacts from growing up close to oil extraction. Now, the city is trying to close down the worst offenders, but it's an enormous task.
Well LA was built up around gold, oil, and cinema. You don’t get LA without those three haha.
You will commonly be along Wilshire and see a spot where nobody can park or walk because there’s raw petroleum just sitting on the street or sidewalk. It will smell like oil but I think people just accept it.
Petroleum and salt - often found together - are much lighter than the rest of the crust and tend to move up to the surface. SoCal has a lot of these spots. I am sure that people started building up LA long before anyone realized what was down there, or before petroleum even had a use.
The article says the one near Beverly Hills High school was plugged due to complaints about health from rich white folks, whereas the oil pumps in poorer neighborhoods keep flowing
The oil derricks were there before it was heavily populated. If I remember right, you could scrape oil off the top of the ground when people first arrived. I guess what I’m trying to say is; the derricks werent built in the poor neighborhoods, the poor neighborhoods were built near the former well sites after they went dry…cheap land. Cover the last few producing wells, build some post-WWII boomer housing and the rest is history.
Is this more like Poor LA residents/Poor neighborhoods?
Because this screams lawsuits, especially in LA which is very big on lawsuits for personal health.
Believe it or not this stuff is in and around Beverly Hills.
You’d think with all the rich fucks there, NIMBY would become their whole personality.
Well LA was built up around gold, oil, and cinema. You don’t get LA without those three haha.
You will commonly be along Wilshire and see a spot where nobody can park or walk because there’s raw petroleum just sitting on the street or sidewalk. It will smell like oil but I think people just accept it.
Is there even anything you can do about the tar pits, though? That’s a natural asphalt seep, and new (smaller) spots are always popping up nearby
Petroleum and salt - often found together - are much lighter than the rest of the crust and tend to move up to the surface. SoCal has a lot of these spots. I am sure that people started building up LA long before anyone realized what was down there, or before petroleum even had a use.
The article says the one near Beverly Hills High school was plugged due to complaints about health from rich white folks, whereas the oil pumps in poorer neighborhoods keep flowing
There are far more than one. They capped the one by the high school.
Specifically the ones behind the Beverly Center mall.
The oil derricks were there before it was heavily populated. If I remember right, you could scrape oil off the top of the ground when people first arrived. I guess what I’m trying to say is; the derricks werent built in the poor neighborhoods, the poor neighborhoods were built near the former well sites after they went dry…cheap land. Cover the last few producing wells, build some post-WWII boomer housing and the rest is history.
https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/oil-derricks-california-old-photos/
Inglewood is the most affected, that’s mostly Latinos and black people.