Join me in L.A. for Break Free
By: Monic Uriarte
For years, my community in South Los Angeles has been under assault by dangerous oil operations drilling for oil across the street from our homes and our schools.
After living alongside these sites and experiencing the effects firsthand, I have to fight back. That’s why I’m marching to break free from fossil fuels on May 14th.
Join me in LA to show that our health, our communities, and our climate are more important than the profits of the fossil fuel industry.
When the drilling began, people in our community experienced headaches, nosebleeds, and respiratory illnesses like asthma, including my daughter Nalleli. We received no help from our elected officials — but after beginning to talk to our neighbors and health professionals, we began to organize.
Together, we were able to shut down a drill site in our neighborhood, the AllenCo oil drilling site, which operated 21 oil wells next door to low-income housing, day care centers, and numerous schools and colleges. The facility is now closed, but AllenCo plans to reopen.
Do you know what the scariest thing is? We’re not alone. Los Angeles is home to thousands of active oil wells, mostly in communities of color like mine.
That’s why we’re taking bold action to end neighborhood drilling and dangerous fossil fuel extraction once and for all. Join me and Nalleli at Los Angeles City Hall on May 14th at 1:00 pm.
From City Hall we will march through downtown, ending at SoCal Gas headquarters (the company responsible for the Porter Ranch Gas Leak, i.e. the worst methane leak in U.S. history).
This fight connects Los Angeles with communities around the world that are standing up and taking action as part of a two-week global mobilization to take on the fossil fuel industry — from coal mines to oil trains to fracking.
Together, let’s end the era of fossil fuels.
Written by Monic Uriarte on behalf of STAND-L.A. STAND-L.A. is an environmental justice coalition of community groups that seeks to end neighborhood drilling to protect the health and safety of Angelenos on the front lines of urban oil extraction.
