CCEJN’s work measuring oil and gas emissions, and violations committed by these facilities, began in 2014. CCEJN’s work related to the oil & gas industry in Kern County was taken to another level in 2015, when the Center for Environmental Health (CEH) invited us to join a statewide project being implemented in collaboration with the Global Community Monitor (GCM). This project had been collecting information about potential community health threats by documenting toxic air pollution from oil and gas development sites in California. CCEJN was invited to participate by launching a community-based air monitoring component in two Kern County communities. Given CCEJN’s strong ties with the community and our knowledge of areas affected by the oil and gas industry as a result of the reports received in the IVAN Kern reporting network, we were invited to lead this project’s community engagement component. This work has evolved beyond our partnership with CEH, and CCEJN continues training residents of Arvin, Shafter, and most recently Lost Hills, on how to monitor and report oil and gas related emissions.
Goals:
- To educate Kern County residents about the negative impacts of fracking
- To improve Kern County residents’ ability to identify and monitor the effects of oil and gas related pollution
- To increase Kern County residents’ engagement in advocacy efforts to change the oil and gas extraction practices and for the adoption of more stringent regulations at the local and state level
Finding Leaks Impacting Residents
The Finding Leaks Impacting Residents (FLIR) project, designed and implemented by the Central California Environmental Justice Network (CCEJN), involves community-based inspections of oil and gas sites near homes and schools in Kern County. Every quarter, CCEJN’s trained thermographers use an infrared camera and a mobile methane monitor to detect and report leaking wells and tanks. The goal of the project is to reduce climate-warming methane emissions and toxic co-pollutants by finding leaks and holding regulators accountable for timely repairs. The FLIR project is a direct response to decades of community complaints, documented by the IVAN Kern Network , about health issues such as nausea, headaches, and memory loss— symptoms often traced back to leaking oil infrastructure. Instead of waiting for residents to get sick, CCEJN now proactively inspects fenceline sites to protect public health, safety, and the climate.
