O I L
EXTRACTION
“Chemical byproducts of oil extraction [include] benzene and hydrogen sulfide,” as well as
“particulate matter (PM2.5), carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide, ozone and volatile organic compounds.”
Nalleli Cobo grew up next to an oil drilling site. When she was 9, “her nose started bleeding.”
Later came “headaches & heart palpitations." ​ ​ She got cancer, but as of 2022, she is cancer-free.
Local “mothers [might] have babies … born with birth defects.”
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15% of oil company GHG pollution comes from “indirect” “operations”,
and is not "associated with the actual consumption of the fuel."
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TRANSPORTATION
“Shipments of crude [oil] by rail have increased with more domestic oil production.”
There have been plenty of crude oil train accidents ​ during this century,
as well as other transportation accidents: via pipelines, tankers and barges.
PROCESSING
On the “85-mile stretch of Louisiana known as ‘Cancer Alley’,” you can find “towering chemical
plants and their mysterious white plumes, roadside ditches oozing with blue fluid, air that smells of
rotten eggs or nail-polish remover, [plus] neighbors suffering miscarriages and dying of cancer.”
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It’s not just Louisiana. Click these links to read about "harms suffered … (from pollution emitted by)
… petrochemical plants and refineries along the Houston Ship Channel in Texas.”
California's ten “most frequent … routine toxic ... emissions from ... refineries” are:
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ammonia
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formaldehyde
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methanol
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sulfuric acid (see photo)
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hydrogen sulfide
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toluene
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xylene
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benzene
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hexane
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hydrogen chloride
UTILIZATION
When fuel is burned in a car, a toxic brew of chemicals leave the tail pipe.
Such airborne effluents exacerbate cardiovascular and pulmonary disorders.
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​A similar chemical cocktail comes out of jet airplane engines.
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“Residents claim living near [the] airport" exposes them to pollutants which
contaminate the air they breathe "and the soil where their children play.”
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Exposure to "airport pollution can cause respiratory issues such as asthma,
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pulmonary fibrosis, C.O.P.D., Alzheimer’s disease and disorders of the central nervous system.”
by Mary and Angus Hogg
"45 million people in the U.S." live near roadways with “potentially hazardous levels of pollution.”
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Air is dirtier there than in “wealthier neighborhoods.”
ABANDONMENT
The Washington Post reported about abandoned wells in 2023. These quotes are from that story:
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Sealing the wells would reduce "toxic substances, such as arsenic and benzene,” in groundwater.
"The wells are everywhere."
We "'only know where a fraction of them are'.”
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“'There are wells out there that nobody even knows about'.”
“The E.P.A. estimates the actual number of abandoned wells … could be in the millions."
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“Methane that leaks from them each year accounts for nearly 3% of the U.S. total."
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Oil wells are not the only problem, there are also abandoned oil refineries.
Photographer Michael Christopher exhibits many photos of these places here.​
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