‘Ground zero for pollution:’ In this L.A. neighborhood surrounded by oil refineries, residents grapple with health issues

Published

4 years ago

October 9, 2021

admin

Magali Sanchez-Hall, a Wilmington resident for over two decades, has struggled with asthma her entire life. She says the health issue stems from her proximity to oil and gas drilling.

Emma Newburger | CNBC

LOS ANGELES, CALIF. — Stepping out of a coffee shop near Interstate 110 in the Wilmington neighborhood of Los Angeles, you’re immediately hit by a foul odor.

Magali Sanchez-Hall, 51, who’s lived here for more than two decades, is used to the smell of rotting eggs wafting from the hundreds of oil wells operating in the neighborhood. She’s used to her neighbors describing chronic coughs, skin rashes and cancer diagnoses, and to the asthma that affects her own family, who live only 1,500 feet from a refinery.

“When people are getting sick with cancer or having asthma, they might think it’s normal or blame genetics,” she said. “We don’t often look at the environment we’re in and think — the chemicals we’re breathing are the cause.”

Wilmington, a predominantly working-class and Latino immigrant community of more than 50,000 people, has some of the highest rates of asthma and cancer in the state, according to a report by the non-profit Communities for a Better Environment. It’s surrounded by six oil refineries and wedged in by several freeways and the ports of L.A. and Long Beach.

California, the seventh-largest oil-producing state in the U.S., has no rule or standard for the distance that active oil wells need to be from communities. For many Californians, especially Black and brown residents, acrid smells, noise and dirt from oil production is part of the neighborhood.

Walking around Wilmington, pumpjacks are visible in public parks, next to schoolyards where children play and outside of people’s windows at home. At night, the sky is lit orange from refinery flares.

The discovery of oil in the 1920s led to significant population growth in the area. People built and bought houses next to the oil fields and refineries, which employ thousands of residents in the area. In L.A. County, the industry employs about 37,000 people, according to a report by Capitol Matrix Consulting.

Oil tanks wedged between homes in the Wilmington neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Emma Newburger | CNBC

More than 2 million California residents live within 2,500 feet of an operational oil and gas well and another 5 million — 14% of the state’s population — are within 1 mile, according to an analysis by the non-profit FracTracker Alliance.

Residents are especially vulnerable in L.A. County, which is home to the Inglewood Oil Field. The 1,000-acre site is one of the largest urban oil fields in the country and is owned and operated by Sentinel Peak Resources. More than half a million people live within a quarter mile of active wells that release hazardous air pollutants like benzene, hydrogen sulfide, particulate matter and formaldehyde.

Sentinel Peak did not respond to requests for comment.

Sanchez-Hall didn’t understand the link between the nearby refineries and the health issues in her community until she left. She graduated college and pursued a masters degree at UCLA, where she took environmental law classes, and now advocates for clean air and energy in her neighborhood.

“Wilmington is ground zero for pollution,” Sanchez-Hall said. “Now I understood why people were dying of cancer around me. We’re not disposable people. There is a huge disadvantage because many of us don’t know what’s happening.”

No buffer zone between drilling and people

Research shows that people who live near oil and gas drilling sites are exposed to harmful pollution and are at greater risk of preterm births, asthma, respiratory disease and cancer.

Residing near oil wells is linked to reduced lung function and wheezing, and in some cases the respiratory damage rivals that of daily exposure to secondhand smoke or living beside a freeway, according to a recent study published in the journal Environmental Research.

Another study, published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, analyzed nearly 3 million births in California of women living within 6.2 miles of at least one oil or gas well. The authors concluded that living near those wells during pregnancy increased the risk of low-birthweight babies.

Environmental advocacy groups have urged California Gov. Gavin Newsom to instate a 2,500-foot buffer zone, or setback, between fossil fuel operations and homes and schools. This year, a bill to ban fracking and instate a buffer zone failed in a state committee vote.

Other oil-producing states including Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Texas have already implemented some form of buffer zone between properties and wells.

In 2019, Newsom ordered his regulators to study such a health-and-safety rule, but they didn’t meet the December 2020 deadline for action. State oil regulators also missed a more recent deadline in the spring to release new regulations that would help protect the health and safety of people living near drilling sites. The California Geologic Energy Management Division, which oversees the state’s fossil fuel industries, hasn’t yet set a new timeline for regulations.

Meanwhile, the governor since 2019 has approved roughly 9,014 oil and gas permits, according to an analysis of state data by Consumer Watchdog and FracTracker Alliance.

“Frontline communities have been waiting for very basic protections from dangerous oil and gas projects for too long,” said Hollin Kretzmann, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, which recently sued the state for approving thousands of drilling and fracking projects without the required environmental review.

“A safety buffer is the bare minimum,” Kretzmann said. “The fact that our state continues to delay is frustrating and completely unacceptable.”

Josiah Edwards, 21, grew up near the largest oil refinery on the West Coast. “Oil drilling and refineries were always an ever present background in my life,” he said.

Emma Newburger | CNBC

The Western States Petroleum Association and the State Building and Construction Trades Council have opposed a statewide mandate to establish buffer zones, arguing that doing so would harm workers and increase fuel costs.

“A one-size-fits-all approach for an entire state for an issue like this is rarely good public policy,” said WSPA spokesman Kevin Slagle. “Setback distances not based data specific to a region could lead to significant impacts on communities, jobs and the affordability and reliability of energy in the state.”

Environmentalists have also called on Newsom to place an immediate moratorium on all new oil and gas permits in those zones.

Earlier this year, the governor directed state agencies to halt new fracking permits by 2024 and to consider phasing out oil production by 2045. The announced marked a shift in position by Newsom, who’s previously said he doesn’t have executive authority to ban fracking, which accounts for just 2% of oil extraction in California, according to the state’s Department of Conservation.

Newsom’s office did not respond to requests for comment.

Newsom’s predecessor, Jerry Brown, who held office between 2011 and 2018, approved 21,397 new oil wells. More than three-quarters of new wells under Brown’s administration are in low-income communities and communities of color, according to state data analyzed by the Center for Biological Diversity.

‘I could have had a better life’

Josiah Edwards, 21, grew up in Carson, a city located in the south bay region of Los Angeles and near the West Coast’s largest oil refinery, owned by Marathon Petroleum Corp. Edwards and his family members suffered from asthma and were constantly concerned about breathing in emissions of the nearby refineries.

“Oil drilling and refineries were always an ever present background in my life,” said Edwards, who now volunteers for the Sunrise Movement, an environmental advocacy group, in Los Angeles.

Edwards recalled getting bloody noses as a child and coming to connect them with the pollution from refineries. He dove into research on how exposure to pollution may contribute to the development of asthma in childhood and wondered if his life would have been different growing up elsewhere.

“It makes me angry and upset. There’s a situation where I could have had a better life with improved health outcomes,” Edwards said. “Even though it still makes me feel angry, I find a lot of hope in what could be. There’s a potential for change.”

Marathon spokesman Jamal Kheiry said the company’s refinery in Carson has invested in air emissions control equipment and cut its criteria pollutant emissions by 35% in the past decade. It’s also invested $25 million to install air monitoring systems along the perimeter of its facilities, and is providing those results to the public.

Wilmington Athletic Complex is located beside oil tanks.

Emma Newburger | CNBC

Phasing out oil and gas locally

Some parts of the state have taken matters into their own hands.

Culver City in L.A. County passed an ordinance to phase out oil and gas extraction in its portion of the Inglewood Oil Field within five years, in one of the most ambitious moves by an oil-producing jurisdiction. The ordinance also requires that all the wells be plugged and abandoned in that time period.

Ventura County, located northwest of L.A., has adopted a 2,500 buffer zone between oil wells and schools and 1,500 feet between wells and homes.

And L.A. County supervisors voted unanimously earlier this month to phase out oil and gas drilling and ban new drill sites in the unincorporated areas. The county is set to determine the quickest way to shut down wells legally before providing a timeline on the phase out.

Jacob Roper, a spokesperson for the Department of Conservation, of which CalGEM is a sub-agency, said the department is “hard at work developing a science-based health and safety regulation to protect communities and workers from the impacts of oil extraction activities.”

“This is a complex set of rules with subject matter outside of our previous regulatory experience,” Roper said. “It involves close collaboration with other state agencies and an independent public health expert panel in an effort to ensure a thorough analysis of relevant science and engineering practices.”

L.A. could become one of the first major cities in the U.S. to nearly phase out fossil fuels from power supply without disruption to the economy, according to a recent study commissioned by the city. Technologies like solar farms, wind turbines, batteries and electric vehicles would make the transition possible, while mitigating harmful air pollution in the most vulnerable communities.

“There are local officials who are taking this issue seriously,” Kretzmann said. “But the fires, ongoing drought and heatwaves in California are stark reminders that we need much bolder action on fossil fuels.”

Environment

Vietnam setting bans on gasoline motorcycles next year, followed by cars

Published

8 hours ago

July 21, 2025

admin

Vietnam setting bans on gasoline motorcycles next year, followed by cars

Vietnam is taking bold steps to clean up its streets – and quiet them down. Starting next summer, the major downtown areas of Hanoi will ban all gasoline-powered motorcycles as part of a program to cut down on emissions.

The plan will go into effect on July 1, 2026, and then will expand the following year to cover more districts outside of downtown, and eventually include gasoline-powered cars as well. Other major cities like Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang are now studying similar measures.

The plan is part of Vietnam’s national goal to phase out gas-powered two-wheelers entirely by 2045. And in a country where motorcycles are the lifeblood of daily transportation, with an estimated 72 million of them on the road, this marks a seismic shift.

The first phase of the ban will cover the Hoan Kiem and Ba Dinh districts of Hanoi within the Ring Road 1. These central areas are known for dense traffic, high pollution levels, and a thriving tourism industry. Officials hope that banning gasoline-powered motorbikes will reduce noise, smog, and carbon emissions while nudging residents toward cleaner electric alternatives.

Advertisement – scroll for more content

For now, the ban only affects motorcycles, but city officials have confirmed that it will extend to gasoline-powered cars in later phases. And while many Vietnamese cities have flirted with the idea of regulating vehicle emissions before, this marks the first concrete plan with a clear timeline. Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s largest urban area, is closely watching Hanoi’s progress and is said to be considering following suit.

Electric motorcycles and scooters are already a fast-growing market in Vietnam, led by homegrown companies like VinFast and Selex Motors. VinFast claims to have sold over 160,000 electric scooters as of early 2024, and Selex is rapidly expanding its battery-swap station network. But so far, electric two-wheelers only account for around 5% of the total market.

That number could soon change.

As gas-powered vehicles begin to disappear from urban centers, electric models may finally gain the upper hand. The government is also exploring support policies like financial incentives and improved charging infrastructure, both of which are key to getting more people to switch.

Still, there are hurdles. Many Vietnamese riders are hesitant to adopt electric bikes due to range anxiety, high upfront costs, and a lack of charging stations. But with regulatory pressure increasing and electric models becoming more affordable, the shift looks more like a matter of “when” than “if.”

Electrek’s Take

Vietnam banning gas-powered motorcycles is a big deal, and not just for local air quality. It’s also a major signal to the broader Southeast Asian market, where motorcycles vastly outnumber cars. If Vietnam can pull this off, it could become a model for electrifying personal transport in developing countries. Keep an eye on this one.

Each time I’ve visited Shanghai, for example, I’m amazed at how a pack of 30-40 motorcycles and scooters can whizz by with nothing but wind noise. China has set the example on how cities can clean up, quiet down, and improve their quality of life by mandating an end to gasoline-powered motorcycles. If other countries can replicate it in big cities, the improvement to local and global air quality would be massive, and that comes on top of all the hyper-local benefits like reductions in noise and urban grime.

That being said, one year is an incredibly fast timeline to shift literally millions of motorcycles to electric. It also doesn’t appear to address the financial burden this will put on residents who will have to replace their vehicle, even if locally produced electric scooters can be made affordable. I’ll be watching this one intently to see how officials can address these issues and if they can maintain this tight deadline. If they can pull it off, though, the face of major Vietnamese cities could change completely.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

Environment

Manitou and Hangcha commit to heavy equipment battery production JV

Published

13 hours ago

July 21, 2025

admin

Manitou and Hangcha commit to heavy equipment battery production JV

Manitou and Hangcha form lithium-ion battery joint venture

French equipment manufacturer Manitou has committed to a joint venture with Chinese forklift manufacturer Hangcha that will see the two companies develop and manufacture advanced lithium-ion batteries to support the electrification of the heavy material handler space.

Manitou is well-known in the West, so they need no introduction. Hangcha, though, is arguably just as capable of a company, having opened its first forklift plant in 1956, manufacturing others’ designs under license. They developed their own, in-house material handler in 1974, and have racked up hits ever since. Hangcha is currently the world’s eighth-largest manufacturer of industrial vehicles globally (sounds wrong, but here’s the source).

The plan for the JV is to upgrade the two companies’ deployed fleets of existing lead-acid battery-powered vehicle with longer lasting lithium-ion (li-ion) batteries to expand their operational lifespan. From there, the focus could switch to diesel retrofits and, eventually, the joint development of entirely new products.

“Deepening strategic cooperation with Manitou Group and jointly establishing a lithium battery joint marks a new phase in the partnership between the two sides, which is a milestone in Hangcha global industrial layout,” explains Zhao Limin, Chairman and General Manager of Hangcha Group. “Leveraging Hangcha’s core technological and manufacturing strengths in lithium battery solutions, we will collaboratively enhance solution capability of new energy industrial vehicle power systems. This partnership perfectly aligns with our shared objectives to accelerate electrification transformation and drive sustainable development, while providing robust support to the broader industrial vehicle market.”

Advertisement – scroll for more content

Manitou MHT 12330

MHT 12330 with 72,750 lb. lift capacity; via Manitou.

Once production begins, the joint venture factory will play a key role in supporting Manitou Group’s “LIFT” strategic roadmap. LIFT aims to expand Manitou’s electric vehicle lineup of telehandlers and forklifts, and have EVs account for 28% of total unit forklift sales by 2030. Hangcha Group, meanwhile, has publicly stated its intention to become 100% electric by the end of 2025.

This joint venture plans to recruit employees including engineers, operators, sales representatives and after-sales service technicians. Le Mans Metropole will support the recruitment and local integration and training of future employees.

SOURCE | IMAGES: Manitou; images by Manitou, via Belkorp AG.

If you’re considering going solar, it’s always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.

Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.