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Cancer Alley

en.wikipedia.org

61–70 of 92 posts

Re: Cancer Alley

#61
post #57

California has its own version of this in the north east Bay Area- with a high density of refineries blowing directly downwind into dense poor communities. Chevron owns and pays for the local newspaper covering that area, which spreads misinformation about the health risks to the community. It amazes me you have this dense urban area with ultra strict vehicle emissions rules, where low income people struggle to get t…

Socal has a lot of places that are damned from a refinery like this too. El Segundo, Wilmington, Torrance, Signal Hill, but also and anywhere downwind of LAX or the Port of LA/LB, plus other industrial centers, or really anywhere because they pull oil from all over the place. Beverly Center mall for example has oil wells hidden on site. Same with Beverly hills highschool. It's probably at least a few million people I'd guess in areas with air quality affected by industry and especially the petroleum industry.

It's amazing how all you hear are crickets on the issue from Sacramento, while the state's own university researchers routinely publish on the issue to deaf ears. I guess it just goes to show where the money and true priorities lie among the legislature.

Re: Cancer Alley

#62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't know what the average is supposed to be, but I think 6/60 (10%), is a wee bit high. The going estimate is that Americans have a 40% chance of getting cancer in their lifetimes [1] so it really depends on the age distribution of the sample. For an older group, 10% might not be that high. [1] https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/statistics

Well, it's certainly "fuzzy" enough, that folks can say "We don't have any proof !". I will say that New York is the best damn place on Earth to get cancer treatment. I've seen many, many people fight cancer, since I moved here, but only a few have died.

Another confounding variable could be demography as well. Depending on what town you pick in Long Island you might end up with a population that is predominantly of a group that might hold elevated risk for whatever reason. E.G. among women there is significantly elevated risk of breast cancer if you have some Ashkenazi Jewish heritage.

https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/breast/young_women/bringyourbrave...

Re: Cancer Alley

#63

I'm confused to why there is also a french name. I get that it was french at one point but it was 200 years ago, and afaik very little people in the area still speak french

I'm from the area, so I feel I might be qualified to give you an answer. The short story is that some people here do still speak dialects of French [1]. The number of native speakers is rapidly declining (and will soon diminish completely), but many residents of Louisiana have grandparents or other family members who did grow up speaking it exclusively (or more commonly now, grew up speaking it with their exclusively-French-speaking parents/grandparents).

There are probably several reasons that it has held on for so long here, but predominantly it's because of multiple waves of influx of French-speakers (from when Louisiana was owned by the French, then from people of the Acadia region of Canada who were forced out of their region and migrated here in the mid-18th century) combined with persistent poverty resulting in poor education and low travel into and out of Louisiana (so not a lot of mixing with the rest of the US).

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_French

Re: Cancer Alley

#64
post #61
post #57

California has its own version of this in the north east Bay Area- with a high density of refineries blowing directly downwind into dense poor communities. Chevron owns and pays for the local newspaper covering that area, which spreads misinformation about the health risks to the community. It amazes me you have this dense urban area with ultra strict vehicle emissions rules, where low income people struggle to get t…

Socal has a lot of places that are damned from a refinery like this too. El Segundo, Wilmington, Torrance, Signal Hill, but also and anywhere downwind of LAX or the Port of LA/LB, plus other industrial centers, or really anywhere because they pull oil from all over the place. Beverly Center mall for example has oil wells hidden on site. Same with Beverly hills highschool. It's probably at least a few million people I…

> Beverly Center mall for example has oil wells hidden on site

That's fascinating to read about. It sounds like all the drilling for that oil field happens from that one location now? They use angled bores to draw from different parts of the field.

Re: Cancer Alley

#65
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Socal has a lot of places that are damned from a refinery like this too. El Segundo, Wilmington, Torrance, Signal Hill, but also and anywhere downwind of LAX or the Port of LA/LB, plus other industrial centers, or really anywhere because they pull oil from all over the place. Beverly Center mall for example has oil wells hidden on site. Same with Beverly hills highschool. It's probably at least a few million people I…

> Beverly Center mall for example has oil wells hidden on site That's fascinating to read about. It sounds like all the drilling for that oil field happens from that one location now? They use angled bores to draw from different parts of the field.

There are a few more sites in west LA alone they pull from. Some fields are still pretty large though, like the Inglewood Oil Field (1). Many are idle though and apparently 2/3 of idle wells leak and cause health issues in California.

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?webmap=cf78...

Re: Cancer Alley

#66
post #61
post #57

California has its own version of this in the north east Bay Area- with a high density of refineries blowing directly downwind into dense poor communities. Chevron owns and pays for the local newspaper covering that area, which spreads misinformation about the health risks to the community. It amazes me you have this dense urban area with ultra strict vehicle emissions rules, where low income people struggle to get t…

Socal has a lot of places that are damned from a refinery like this too. El Segundo, Wilmington, Torrance, Signal Hill, but also and anywhere downwind of LAX or the Port of LA/LB, plus other industrial centers, or really anywhere because they pull oil from all over the place. Beverly Center mall for example has oil wells hidden on site. Same with Beverly hills highschool. It's probably at least a few million people I…

A year ago LA voted to end phase out oil extraction by 2045.

Re: Cancer Alley

#67
post #57

California has its own version of this in the north east Bay Area- with a high density of refineries blowing directly downwind into dense poor communities. Chevron owns and pays for the local newspaper covering that area, which spreads misinformation about the health risks to the community. It amazes me you have this dense urban area with ultra strict vehicle emissions rules, where low income people struggle to get t…

Ok but the other three refineries in the Bay Area are not adjacent to low-income areas (I live next to one!). So what exactly is your point?

Re: Cancer Alley

#68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In addition many whites moved to Ascension Parish in spite of the pollution for the well paying jobs that required relatively little education.

Yup. The entire area is full of white folks with barely high school educations who are living a fantasy life by making great money through a lot of overtime at chemical refineries. Take away the refineries and you've got nothing left to sustain any of that economy. The entire metro New Orleans system would collapse within years outside of a few tourist traps and the ports.

Believe me, I know. I’m a grad student at Tulane and used to canvass in Donaldsonville.

Re: Cancer Alley

#69
post #61
post #57

California has its own version of this in the north east Bay Area- with a high density of refineries blowing directly downwind into dense poor communities. Chevron owns and pays for the local newspaper covering that area, which spreads misinformation about the health risks to the community. It amazes me you have this dense urban area with ultra strict vehicle emissions rules, where low income people struggle to get t…

Socal has a lot of places that are damned from a refinery like this too. El Segundo, Wilmington, Torrance, Signal Hill, but also and anywhere downwind of LAX or the Port of LA/LB, plus other industrial centers, or really anywhere because they pull oil from all over the place. Beverly Center mall for example has oil wells hidden on site. Same with Beverly hills highschool. It's probably at least a few million people I…

The Santa Susanna Field Lab had at least one nuclear reactor (built without containment) blow up. They also dumped toxic chemicals and waste often. In the hills between LA and Ventura counties.

Story was buried for decades. Lots of folks in Simi Valley have died of cancer.

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Susana_Field_Laboratory

- https://parentsagainstssfl.com/

Re: Cancer Alley

#70
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Socal has a lot of places that are damned from a refinery like this too. El Segundo, Wilmington, Torrance, Signal Hill, but also and anywhere downwind of LAX or the Port of LA/LB, plus other industrial centers, or really anywhere because they pull oil from all over the place. Beverly Center mall for example has oil wells hidden on site. Same with Beverly hills highschool. It's probably at least a few million people I…

The Santa Susanna Field Lab had at least one nuclear reactor (built without containment) blow up. They also dumped toxic chemicals and waste often. In the hills between LA and Ventura counties. Story was buried for decades. Lots of folks in Simi Valley have died of cancer. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Susana_Field_Laboratory - https://parentsagainstssfl.com/

I've driven through that campus... very interesting and creepy
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