Delta/Fuel Incident
****Trigger Warning: Environmental Racism, Environmental Injustice****
Delta Air Lines Flight 89 Dumps Fuel on Communities of East LA
On January 14th, 2020 a Delta Airlines Boeing 777 jet bound for Shanghai from LAX airport experienced technical difficulties regarding its engine. In response, its pilot decided to employ an emergency fuel release of about a thousand gallons to reach a safe landing weight back at LAX. This action was done so at the great cost of communities in the nearby areas who found themselves in a rain of jet fuel without any warning. Six school campuses were affected, as well as neighborhoods east of LAX from Pico Rivera to Cudahy, Lynwood, Compton & South Central. About sixty people received medical attention, as jet fuel is extremely toxic and coated both children and adults. Victims reported drenching their clothes, flesh, mouth, nose and eyes which in turn caused severe irritation, sickness and nausea, not to mention emotional distress.
The Los Angeles Unified School District acted relatively quickly, cleaning over twenty schools overnight. Thankfully, as of right now after treatment there has been no hospitalizations and because of dissipation of VOC’s (Volatile Organic Compounds), there are no more cases anticipated. Furthermore, the Federal Aviation Administration is currently conducting an investigation, as releasing fuel on the communities is not within protocol guidelines. However, there have been major complaints of lack of civic engagement despite Delta representative Dana Debel who vowed commitment to doing so on behalf of the airline.
As of January 20, four teachers from Park Avenue Elementary School in Cudahy – Lisette Barajas, Laura Guzman, Mariana de la Torre, and Anabel Sampierio, are filing a lawsuit against Delta Airlines for negligence and damages. The plaintiffs allege that the engine problem was detected prior to take off and should have prevented the incident from occurring in the first place. This incident demonstrates a clear example of environmental injustice, as demographics who live in close proximity to LAX include high concentrations of low income and people of color. The latinx community makes up 96% of Cudahy’s population. These people are exposed to disproportionately high levels of pollutants in noise, air and water oftentimes because they cannot afford to live elsewhere. Meanwhile, wealthier neighborhoods near LAX can afford the utilities to combat these challenges. Money plays an active role in who is protected and who is left to fend for themselves, and this inequality is highlighted by this case. Class and race play a role as well, which qualifies this case as an issue of environmental racism as well. This same elementary school was closed for 8 months in 1989 and 1990 when an odd substance oozed up from underground. It was later discovered that the school had been built on top of a former city dump. This area has been historically and consistently impacted by environmental injustices that continue to go unrecognized.
If you feel compelled to support victims of this horrific incident and help hold Delta Airlines accountable for their actions, campus organization MUJER de UCSB has provided the flyer below in which you may voice your concerns.
Written by Cambria Wilson, Publicity Chair. Jan 28th, 2020.
History of Environmental Justice
One of the most comprehensive readings defining Environmental Justice is through the works of First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit held in 1991.
WE, THE PEOPLE OF COLOR, gathered together at this multinational People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, to begin to build a national and international movement of all peoples of color to fight the destruction and taking of our lands and communities, do hereby re-establish our spiritual interdependence to the sacredness of our Mother Earth; to respect and celebrate each of our cultures, languages and beliefs about the natural world and our roles in healing ourselves; to ensure environmental justice; to promote economic alternatives which would contribute to the development of environmentally safe livelihoods; and, to secure our political, economic and cultural liberation that has been denied for over 500 years of colonization and oppression, resulting in the poisoning of our communities and land and the genocide of our peoples, do affirm and adopt these Principles of Environmental Justice:
1) Environmental Justice affirms the sacredness of Mother Earth, ecological unity and the interdependence of all species, and the right to be free from ecological destruction.
2) Environmental Justice demands that public policy be based on mutual respect and justice for all peoples, free from any form of discrimination or bias.
3) Environmental Justice mandates the right to ethical, balanced and responsible uses of land and renewable resources in the interest of a sustainable planet for humans and other living things.
4) Environmental Justice calls for universal protection from nuclear testing, extraction, production and disposal of toxic/hazardous wastes and poisons and nuclear testing that threaten the fundamental right to clean air, land, water, and food.
5) Environmental Justice affirms the fundamental right to political, economic, cultural and environmental selfdetermination of all peoples.
6) Environmental Justice demands the cessation of the production of all toxins, hazardous wastes, and radioactive materials, and that all past and current producers be held strictly accountable to the people for detoxification and the containment at the point of production.
7) Environmental Justice demands the right to participate as equal partners at every level of decisionmaking, including needs assessment, planning, implementation, enforcement and evaluation.
8) Environmental Justice affirms the right of all workers to a safe and healthy work environment without being forced to choose between an unsafe livelihood and unemployment. It also affirms the right of those who work at home to be free from environmental hazards.
9) Environmental Justice protects the right of victims of environmental injustice to receive full compensation and reparations for damages as well as quality health care.
10) Environmental Justice considers governmental acts of environmental injustice a violation of international law, the Universal Declaration On Human Rights, and the United Nations Convention on Genocide.
11) Environmental Justice must recognize a special legal and natural relationship of Native Peoples to the U.S. government through treaties, agreements, compacts, and covenants affirming sovereignty and self-determination.
12) Environmental Justice affirms the need for urban and rural ecological policies to clean up and rebuild our cities and rural areas in balance with nature, honoring the cultural integrity of all our communities, and provided fair access for all to the full range of resources.
13) Environmental Justice calls for the strict enforcement of principles of informed consent, and a halt to the testing of experimental reproductive and medical procedures and vaccinations on people of color.
14) Environmental Justice opposes the destructive operations of multi-national corporations.
15) Environmental Justice opposes military occupation, repression and exploitation of lands, peoples and cultures, and other life forms.
16) Environmental Justice calls for the education of present and future generations which emphasizes social and environmental issues, based on our experience and an appreciation of our diverse cultural perspectives.
17) Environmental Justice requires that we, as individuals, make personal and consumer choices to consume as little of Mother Earth’s resources and to produce as little waste as possible; and make the conscious decision to challenge and reprioritize our lifestyles to ensure the health of the natural world for present and future generations.
More info on environmental justice and environmental racism can be found online at www.ejnet.org/ej/ Delegates to the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit held on October 24-27, 1991, in Washington DC, drafted and adopted these 17 principles of Environmental Justice. Since then, the Principles have served as a defining document for the growing grassroots movement for environmental justice.