
Vallejo, California, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, though separated by thousands of miles, share a common challenge: the environmental and public health risks posed by nearby oil refineries.
Communities located near refineries have been shown to have higher rates of serious illness and death.
Yet these communities are plagued with these toxic structures. This is the daily reality for predominantly Black shoreline communities across the United States.
In Vallejo, the neighboring Valero Benicia Refinery has long faced scrutiny & been fined 82 million just last year for illegal emissions of carcinogenic chemicals like benzene and toluene. Similarly, Baton Rouge is home to one of ExxonMobil’s largest refining complexes, which has been the subject of numerous pollution violations, including unauthorized releases of volatile organic compounds and sulfur dioxide. Both facilities are situated near densely populated, working-class communities and have come under fire for inadequate transparency and poor environmental safety practices.
These shoreline communities, once viewed as ideal industrial zones due to their access to waterways for shipping and cooling, now find themselves on the frontlines of environmental injustice. Residents in both cities have reported health issues ranging from chronic respiratory conditions to elevated cancer rates & death. In Vallejo, a 2017 incident involving a refinery tanker led to mass hospital visits and thousands of complaints over noxious fumes.
Additionally in 2019 New Star Energy had a refinery explosion in which residents were urged to evacuate however, Black low income residents were abandoned/left to fend for themselves. In Baton Rouge, state health data has shown disproportionately high rates of asthma and other ailments in neighborhoods bordering refineries, particularly among low-income Black residents.
These patterns reflect a broader systemic issue in which marginalized communities are disproportionately exposed to industrial pollution at alarming rates.