Jesus Alonso still recalls the terrible rotten egg smell he’d whiff on his way to school in Lamont, California, immediately downwind from a large oil refinery and within a few miles of the Mountain View Oil Field. The release of toxic emissions and flammable gases from such industrial operations has beenlinked to health problems elsewhere.
“You can smell it well before you reach the school,” recounts Alonso, now an organizer with Clean Water Action. “Growing up, I thought that this was just all normal but getting used to that oil and gas smell isn’t normal. Having headaches, nosebleeds, very dry skin, high rates of asthma, all of that is not normal.”