Campo petrolero de South Belridge, CA/Oil field in South Belridge, CA (Foto: Rosana Esparza)
(English follows)
Por la Dra. Rosana Esparza
Publicado por La Opinión de Los Angeles
¿Ha visto el sol últimamente? ¿O respirado profundamente en la calle? Si vive en California, la respuesta es no. Lo que ha visto es una esfera naranja sobre una espesa niebla de humo tóxico, un recordatorio del precio que estamos pagando por ignorar la crisis climática.
En esta pesadilla, Donald Trump —quien se las da de ser un “gran ambientalista”— trata de empeorar nuestros problemas con un plan para abrir un millón de acres de terrenos públicos en California a explotaciones petroleras antes del fin de año.
Los incendios avivados por la crisis climática han devastado 3,1 millones de acres en California, lo cual contribuye a la ya grave contaminación atmosférica en el Valle Central. Aquí vivimos en lugares que han violado las normas de limpieza del aire durante décadas y los residentes no podemos salir libremente de nuestras casas sin antes consultar la calidad del aire o comprar sistemas de monitoreo portables.
El Valle Central tiene la peor calidad de aire del país debido a las abrumadoras explotaciones petroleras y gasíferas. Los residentes somos más vulnerables al asma y otras enfermedades respiratorias, además de males coronarios y ataques cerebrales. Y ahora enfrentamos una amenaza aún peor debido a COVID-19, porque sabemos que las personas expuestas a mala calidad de aire son más susceptibles de morir de este virus.
Ignorando estas amenazas, la administración Trump planea vender arrendamientos para perforar en 4.000 acres en Kern County, incluyendo áreas cercanas a comunidades llamadas “receptores sensibles”, como la latina, la cual forma el 50% de la población. En estos barrios han vivido latinos y otras comunidades vulnerables durante generaciones, no porque deseen estar justo al lado de residuos tóxicos, y contaminación sonora y lumínica, sino porque no tienen otra opción.
Como gerontóloga interesada en el desarrollo de la expectativa de vida y la salud ambiental, sé bien que la proximidad a campos petroleros y gasíferos acarrea adversos impactos en la salud. Expandir aún más las explotaciones de combustibles sucios sería devastador para estas comunidades.
Los defensores de la salud pública, profesionales médicos, grupos ambientalistas y excursionistas, junto con el Estado de California, se oponen a la decisión de la administración de abrir aún más terrenos públicos a estas explotaciones. Los terrenos públicos deben pertenecer al público, no a las corporaciones petroleras que enferman nuestros pulmones y destruyen la atmósfera de la que todos dependemos.
Los incendios arden y el público se enferma debido a la codicia sin fin de la industria de combustibles fósiles. Mientras la niebla y cenizas tóxicas llueven sobre nosotros, ha quedado absolutamente claro que hay que buscar un mejor camino.
La Dra. Rosana Esparza es defensora de los derechos ambientales y gerontóloga y vive en Kern County.
(English)
Rubbing Salt to the Wound
By Dr. Rosana Esparza
Published by La Opinión of Los Angeles
Have you seen the sun lately? Or gone outside and taken a deep breath? If you live in California you haven’t. Instead, you’ve seen an orange orb, hanging amid a thick gray fog. You’ve watched ash dripping from the sky and breathed in toxic smoke, reminders of the price we are all paying for failing to take the climate crisis seriously.
Amid this nightmare, as we watch our communities burn and our neighbors struggle to breathe, Donald Trump is seeking to make these problems even worse. Trump, who dares to call himself a “great environmentalist,” is working to open up over one million acres of federal public lands in California to drilling and fracking before the end of this year.
This massive expansion of drilling and fracking for fossil fuels would exacerbate the problems already facing California communities. Wildfires have now burned over 4 million acres of land in California. These fires are fueled by climate change, and as they burn they are contributing further to the crisis of toxic air pollution in California’s Central Valley. Here, we live in areas that have been out of attainment with clean air standards for decades, and residents can’t safely leave home without consulting air quality graphs or purchasing a portable air monitoring system.
In fact, the Central Valley is home to the worst air quality in the United States, a result of the rampant oil and gas drilling that takes place here. This polluting puts residents at risk of asthma and other respiratory diseases, as well as elevated rates of heart disease and stroke. Now, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to batter our communities, we face an even greater public health risk, because we know that people that are subjected to higher rates of air pollution are more likely to die from the virus.
Ignoring these threats, the Trump administration plans to hold a December auction selling off decade-long leases for drilling across 4,000 acres in Kern County, including in areas near communities referred to as “sensitive receptors.” That means places where people of color have made their homes for generations, not because they want to live next door to toxic waste, unchecked noise, and light pollution, but because that’s what they can afford.
As a gerontologist interested in lifespan development and environmental health I know that proximity to oil and gas development is associated with adverse health risks and impacts, and that the continued expansion of oil and gas extraction in our communities would be devastating, further threatening the health and safety of already vulnerable populations.
Public health advocates, medical professionals, outdoor and recreation groups, along with the State of California, have all filed lawsuits challenging the administration’s decisions to reopen public lands and mineral estate to new oil and gas development. That’s because our public lands should belong to the people, not to the highest bidding oil corporations that will pollute our air and worsen the climate crisis we see raging around us.
These fires are burning and people are sick because of the unchecked greed and expansion of the fossil fuel industry. As we look up and see toxic fog and ash rain down around us, it should be clearer than ever that it’s time for a better way.
Dr. Rosana Esparza is an environmental justice advocate and gerontologist who lives in Kern County.