Brian Briggs

Race, Poverty and the Environment

Professor Raquel Pinderhughes
Urban Studies Program
p://response.restoration.noaa.gov/photos/exxon/exxon.html
San Francisco State University
Spring 2004
Public has permission to use the material herein, but only if
Oiled cormorant on a rocky oil-covered author, course, university, and professor are credited.
shore
This presentation focuses on oil.

It is designed to show the impacts oil has in regards to race,

poverty and the environment. It takes you through the cradle to
grave lifecycle of oil, paying particular attention to the social,
environmental and public health impacts of the
processes associated with oil consumption.
We start by looking at oil exploration and
extraction. Then we analyze the oil refining
process. After that we analyze the distribution
of oil to the marketplace.
Following this we will conclude
with oil consumption
and the end waste product of oil.

To The Victors, Go the Oil.  by  Winston Smith     nobloodforoil.org           

 I: Oil Exploration and Extraction

Oil is a fossil fuel that is formed from the

remains of tiny plants and animals, known
as plankton that died in ancient seas
between 10 million and 600 million years
ago. The plankton fell to the bottom of the
sea and after decaying, the organisms
formed sedimentary layers. In the layers,
little or no oxygen is present and this allows
microorganisms to break down the remains
into carbon-rich compounds that form
organic layers. The organic material mix
with the sediments to form fine-grained
shale, or source rock. As the sedimentary
rocks layer, they exert extreme heat and
pressure to distill the organic material into
crude oil and natural gas. The oil then flows
from the source rock and accumulates in
thicker, more porous limestone or
sandstone known as reservoir rock. When
the earth moves the oil and natural gas is
trapped in reservoir rocks, which are http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/story/chapter08.htm
between layers of impermeable rock, or cap l
rock– usually granite or marble. The whole
process takes millions of years.
Finding Oil
 The Government and Oil companies
usually assign finding oil to
contracted geologists
 The Geologists make an average of
$100,230 making it an incentive to
find new reserves
 Oil geologists examine surface
features, surface rock, reservoir
rock, entrapment, satellite images,
sensitive gravity meters and
magnometers. They can also detect
the smell of hydrocarbons using
electronic noses called sniffers.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-
 The most common technique for drilling2.htm
finding reserves is seismology which
uses shock waves that interpret
waves reflected back to the surface.
 Despite all the technologies, modern
oil exploration methods are only 10
percent successful.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-drilling1.htm
 Once the Site is Selected
Getting the land ready
 The area is surveyed to
determine its boundaries.
 Environmental studies are
said to be done.
 The land is cleared and then
access roads are built.
 Water is drilled if there are no
natural sources available.
 A reserve pit is dug to dispose
of rock cuttings and mud. It is
lined with plastic to “protect”
the environment only if the
area is considered to be
“ecologically sensitive.”
Making way for the
rig
 Several holes are dug to
make way for the rig and
main hole
 A rectangular pit (cellar) is
dug around the location of the
drilling hole. (This provides a
workspace)
 The crew drills a main hole
 Additional holes are dug to
the side to store equipment
 Setting Up the Rig

Once the land is ready, several holes are dug to make way for the rig and main
hole. A rectangular pit called a cellar is dug around the location of the actual
drilling hole. The cellar provides a workspace around the hole. The crew
then drills a main hole. The following is how a rig is set up.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-drilling2.htm
 Drilling
Directions on drilling

• 1. Place the drill bit, collar and drill pipe in

the hole.
• 2. Attach the Kelly and turntable and begin
drilling.
• 3. As drilling progresses, circulate mud
through the pipe and out of the bit to float
the rock cutting out of the hole.
• 4. Add new sections (joints) of drill pipes ad
the hole gets deeper.
• 5. Remove (trip out) the drill pipe, collar
and bit when the pre-set depth
(anywhere from a few hundred to a
couple thousand feet)
is reached. Photo courtesy Institute of Petroleum

http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-drilling1.htm
 Confirming the Presence of Oil

After the pre-wet depth is

reached, the workers run and
cement the casing –pipe
sections into the hole to prevent
it from collapsing. Drilling
continues in stages. When the
rock cuttings from the mud
reveal the oil sand from the
reservoir rock, they may have
reached the final depth. At this
point, they remove the drilling
apparatus from the hole and
perform several tests to confirm
the presence of oil. These tests
are Well logging, Drill-stem
testing, and Core samples.

Photo courtesy Phillips Petroleum Co.

Rotary workers trip drill pipe
http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-drilling4.htm
 Extracting the Oil
• Once the well is completed, the
operators must start the flow of oil
into the well. For limestone
reservoir rock, acid is pumped
down the well and out the
perforations. For sandstone
reservoir rock, a special blended
fuel containing proppants is http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-drilling4.htm
pumped down the well and out the
perforations. The pressure from
this fluid makes small fractures in
the sandstone that allow oil to flow
into the well, while the proppants
hold these fractures open. Once
the oil is flowing, the oilrig is
removed from the site and
production equipment is set up to
extract the oil from the well.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-drilling4.htm
“Where indigenous people clash
with development projects, the
developers almost always win”
-- The U.S State Department

Photo courtesy of Project Underground http://www.moles.org/uwa/index.html

 Although lease agreements, titles and right-of way
accesses for the land must be obtained and
evaluated legally, this is not the case

The Oil companies target the land of indigenous people.

• The Rainforest Action Network in an article named “Drilling to the Ends of the Earth,” states, “The
U’wa of Colombia, the Karen of Burma, the Nahua of Peru– all of these indigenous peoples and
dozens more are threatened by the global expansion of the oil industry.”

• In the same article, it is said that, “The World Bank plans to fund an oil pipeline through Central
African rainforests that will bring huge profits to Shell, Exxon, and Elf while causing environmental
havoc.” Also, “The oil companies are about to build a 600-mile pipeline from the Daba oil fields in
Chad to coastal Cameroon, slashing through fragile rainforest that is home to the Baka and Bakola
peoples, communities of traditional hunters-gatherers.”

• In Nigeria oil disasters are common and in one case 200 villagers died in a pipeline explosion in
2000. Often times safety standards are more lax in developing countries than developed countries–
benefiting oil companies

• The governments of nation states use bloody military tactics to quell uprisings and protests to oil
fields by indigenous people who are protecting their land. These states are given money to exploit
indigenous populations and are expected to protect the interests of the oil companies.
 Environmental Impacts of Oil Extraction

• The dumping of a million liters of waste into an abandoned oil well by Shell
caused the presence of heavy metals at above acceptable limits and the
unusually high concentrations of ions make the substance toxic. If these
substances were to infiltrate the underground water or aquifer, it would have
serious environmental and health implications.

• The World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Oil companies, and the
governments of the world overlook environmental impact studies which
conclude that oil extraction directly causes deforestation, poaching, loss of
community land, water contamination, and health impacts to people, animal
and flora life.

• Occidental Petroleum built there production facilities of Cano Limon on a

floodplain, causing flood waters to interact with open pit petroleum waste
disposal sites carrying both the toxic and carcinogenic chemical waste
directly into local waterways, depleting the water of oxygen and killing living
organisms.
II. Crude Oil Distribution to Refineries

http://www.schoolscience.co.uk/content/4/chemistry/fossils/p7.html
 Crude oil to Refineries
• Oil fields and offshore oil rigs
generally have hundreds of wells
with flow lines that carry crude oil
to the lease tanks. The crude oil
flows from the wells to the unseen
lease tanks via the flow lines,
where it is accumulated, sampled
and measured prior to further
transportation via other connecting
pipelines. Oil pipelines are
considered to be a closed system
since the chemicals theoretically
don’t touch the environment,
however leaks in the system do
occur. Also, oil tankers bring oil to
refineries and as was the case in
the Exxon Valdez disaster, the
environment suffers tremendously
from oil production.

Photo Courtesy
ohttp://response.restoration.noaa.gov/
photos/exxon/exxon.html EVOS Oil
Spill Facts
 Environmental Disaster
Numbers of Spills
over 700 tonnes
 

Statistic courtesy of http://www.itopf.com/stats.html

 Prestige Spill 2002
• The coastal waters of north-west Spain support rich marine and bird life -
virtually all of which is threatened by the Prestige oil spill.
• Scientists are concerned about the threat to the Balearic shearwater bird
because in 1991, the population was estimated to be approximately 3,300
breeding pairs, but by 2000 this had been reportedly reduced to between
1,750 and 2,125 pairs.
• When the oil reaches coastal waters, it wreaks far more damage on fragile
ecosystems, some of them vital to local human economies.
• It is possible for shellfish to be tainted by the toxicity of the oil over periods
of years.
• This has severe implications for not only the shellfish populations
themselves, but the creatures, including birds and humans, which feed on
them
• Oil spills occur all around the world and many disasters like this happened in
the past and will continue in the future, causing widespread devastation to
the environment and those entities which inhabit it.
III: Oil Refining

http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-drilling1.htm
 Fractional Distillation

The steps are as follows.

 1.Heat the mixture of two or more substances with
 different boiling points to a high temperature. Heating is usually done with high-
pressure steam to temperatures of about 1112 degrees Fahrenheit/600 degrees
Celsius
 2. The mixture boils, forming vapor (gases): most substances go into the vapor
phase.
 3. The vapor enters the bottom of a long column (fractional distillation column) that
is filled with trays or plates.
 4. The vapor rises in the column
 5. As the vapor rises through the trays in the column, it cools.
 6. When a substance in the vapor reaches a height where the temperature of the
column is equal to the substances boiling point, it will condense to form a liquid.
 7.The trays collect the various liquid fractions
 8.The collected liquid fractions may pass to condensers, which cool them further,
and then go to storage tanks or go to other areas for further chemical processing.
 Further chemical processing is required in order to make
products such as gasoline of various grades, lubricating oils,
kerosene, jet fuel, heating oil, chemicals for plastics and other
polymers. It is possible to change one fraction into another
through these three methods; cracking, unification, and
alteration.
 Cracking takes large hydrocarbons and breaks them into
smaller ones.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-refining5.htm
 Unification is the process where
smaller hydrocarbons are
combined to make larger ones.
The main unification process is
called catalytic reforming and
uses a catalyst to combine low
weight naphtha into aromatics
which are used in making
chemicals and in blending
gasoline.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-refining5.htm
 Alteration: The structures of
molecules in one fraction are
rearranged to produce another.
Commonly this is done using
alkylation- low molecular weight
compounds are mixed in the
presence of a catalysts such as
hydrofluoric acid or sulfuric acid.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-
refining5.htm
 Distilled and chemically processed fractions are treated to
remove impurities and is done by passing the fractions
through the following:

1.A column of sulfuric acid

2. An absorption column filled with drying agents to

remove water
3.Sulfur treatment and hydrogen-sulfide scrubbers to
remove sulfur and sulfur compounds

http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-refining3.htm
 Products From Refined Oil Refraction
 gasoline of various grades,
with or without additives
 lubricating oils of various
weights and grades (e.g.
10W-40, 5W-30)
 kerosene of various grades
 jet fuel
 diesel fuel
 heating oil
 chemicals of various grades
for making plastics and http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-refining6.htm

other polymers
 Oil refining causes the destruction of vegetation, contaminates
water supplies, causes respiratory problems, destroys land, and
harms living organisms. The refineries are located in poor,
predominately communities of color in urban and rural areas.
Common in oil refineries are gas flares. Gas flaring releases
carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulphide, nitrogen
dioxide and sulphur oxide, into the air and is extremely harmful
to people– especially women who are pregnant , the young and
elderly. This Chevron refinery accident in the background, which
is located in Richmond, California, is common and caused
more than 1,200 to show up at emergency rooms, complaining
of breathing difficulties and eye irritations. Chevron claims this
accident had no immediate life threatening danger to people in
the surrounding area, however they fail to account for the bio-
accumulation of particulate toxins that are embedded in the
lungs of workers and neighbors.

Refineries run by the likes of BP Amoco and others have spewed toxic waste into the workplace, as well as the
air and groundwater of neighboring communities, for decades. This behavior has severely affected the health and
safety of refinery workers. It has left the refineries' neighbors - often poor communities of color - dirty water and
air, low property values and depressing nick names such as "cancer alley." ---corpwatch.org
Today’s Oil Refinery Environmental Disaster
in the Bay Area April 29, 2004
 A pipeline that pumps petroleum from
refineries in the San Francisco Bay
area ruptured and spilled an estimated
60,000 gallons of diesel fuel into a
marsh that serves as a nesting ground
for migratory birds.
.

 Several dead animals, mostly ducks,

were found at the scene.

 The marsh, located just north of

Suisun Bay, covers 57,000 acres and
is home to about 700,000 birds,
including migratory shorebirds and
raptors.
 III: From Refinery to the Marketplace
http://chevron.com/
 Oil, Gasoline, Polymers, and Plastics are moved
around to the marketplace in trucks, trains, ships
and via pipelines
 Tanker trucks hold around
9,000 gallons of gasoline
 Tanker ships hold around
1.26 million barrels of oil
 It would take 14 and a
quarter tanker ships to Photo courtesy of chevron.com
carry all the oil that the
U.S consumes in one day
 The U.S alone has over
200,000 miles of oil
pipelines
 Oil Transportation to the Marketplace

 Numerous cases of land, ocean and lake spills of

petroleum have been detected all over the world,
causing the irregular operation of petroleum pumping,
fluid transport, tank storage, plant and refinery, and
maritime and truck transport facilities. The spills and
leaks of petroleum and refined products have been
detected from: overflowing tanks, leaking extraction and
pumping stations, ocean tankers and tank trucks.
Petroleum and derivatives have spilled into lakes, the
ocean, and land areas surrounding industry facilities.
Loaded tank trucks have overturned, spilling diesel and
gasoline fuel on roads and highways.
 Gas Stations Leak

 Methyl tertiary butyl ether -- a gasoline additive that is carcinogenic has

been detected in so many wells, lakes and underground aquifers across the
country that MTBE contamination is a major environmental problem.
 In California -- home to 27 million vehicles and more than 9,500 gas stations
-- MTBE has contaminated 10,000 shallow groundwater sites, including
1,000 in the Bay Area. It has also been found in dozens of the state's lakes
and reservoirs, including Shasta, Tahoe and Donner in the north and
Castaic, Pyramid and Perris in the south.
 The U.S. Geological Survey has found the controversial additive in more
than a quarter of the nation's shallow urban wells, as well as in streams,
lakes, rain and snow.
 Researchers have found that MTBE can cause cancer in animals, and they
believe it is a potential carcinogen in human beings.
 In South Lake Tahoe, leaks at underground gas station tanks have caused
the water district to close 12 of 34 wells.
IV: Oil Consumption

http://www.detroithummer.com/weeklyspeci
als.html
Oil consumption in the United States
► The U.S consumes about 18 million barrels
of oil each day
► A barrel of oil produces about 18-20 gallons
of gasoline
► The United States consumes 360 million
gallons of gas a day
► The U.S consumes around 131 billion
barrels of oil each year
World Oil Consumption

http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch5en
Products Consumed from Oil

http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/non-renewable/oil.html
 V. Waste Processes
 Carbon dioxide is released to the atmosphere when fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, and
coal), are burned.

 Plastics are dumped into landfills if not recycled and seep into the earth over time.

 An oil well can produce at least 1,500 tons of toxic drilling muds which are dumped
into rivers, streams and soils.

 Wastewater from the petrochemical industry contains hazardous chemicals, such as

hydrocarbons, phenol or ammoniacal nitrogen among others

 The average refinery generates 10,000 gallons a day of waste that contains many
toxic chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects, breathing problems and other
serious health effects.

 Refineries create an unfair burden of pollution and economic injustice because they
mostly exist in communities of color and low-income neighborhoods. These
communities pay a huge price while the rest of society collects more of the benefits.
 Global Warming

 The term Global Warming refers to the observation that the atmosphere
near the Earth's surface is warming
 Carbon dioxide is the gas largely blamed for global warming
 Carbon dioxide, mostly from burning of coal, gasoline and other fossil fuels,
traps heat that otherwise would radiate into space
 Before the industrial age and extensive use of fossil fuels, the concentration
of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere stood at about 280 parts per million
 Average readings at the 11,141-foot Mauna Loa Observatory, where carbon
dioxide density peaks each northern winter, hovered around 379 parts per
million, compared with about 376 a year ago
 That year-to-year increase of about 3 parts per million is considerably
higher than the average annual increase of 1.8 parts per million over the
past decade
 Global Warming Impact
 Rising global temperatures are expected to raise sea level, and
change precipitation and other local climate conditions. Changing
regional climate could alter forests, crop yields, and water supplies.
It could also affect human health, animals, and many types of
ecosystems. Deserts may expand into existing rangelands, and
features of some of our National Parks may be permanently altered.
Most of the United States is expected to warm, although sulfates
may limit warming in some areas. Scientists currently are unable to
determine which parts of the United States will become wetter or
drier, but there is likely to be an overall trend toward increased
precipitation and evaporation, more intense rainstorms, and drier
soils.
VI: Conclusion
Focusing our attention on the aspects of race, class and oil, my
thoughts about the lifecycle of oil is that the world needs oil, just
not as much oil. It is unfortunate that oil companies profit at the
expense of the environment and people based on race, and class.
What angers me the most is the oil companies don’t care about
their actions but instead are preoccupied with greed. I find it sad
that the top 20% of oil consumers consume 80% at the expense of
poor and minority communities who are barely benefiting from it, if
at all. Although the entire world is negatively impacted by oil
consumption, poor and minority communities are overburdened by
the Condoleezza Rice’s, George Bush’s, Dick Cheney’s, of the
world amongst others who highly profit from it. I find it also
disgusting that the above listed shady characters are the leaders
of the biggest oil consumer, the United States. Furthermore, not
enough is being done to implement alternatives, many of which
can be widely mainstreamed into society.
Alternatives
 Bio-diesel: If 100 million hectares is brought under cultivation we can get castor seeds
of 150 million tonnes out of which we can get 50 million tonnes of oil
 Hybrid Cars: an internal combustion engine with an electric motor that is used at lower
speeds
 Wind Power: Uses wind instead of burning fossil fuels
 Ride a bike: Stop being lazy
 Public Transportation: Sit down and read a book. Also, public transportation should
focus on using an alternative to gasoline, and diesel.
 SUV’s: SUV’s aren’t needed to drive around town. If you need one to go camping and
etc., rent one.
 Solar power: Instead of burning fossil fuels for electricity, use the sun. Stop paying
Pacific Gas and Electricity. They are rich enough.

 These and other alternatives can help save the environment and
reduce the negative impacts to people.
Only you can prevent oil
consumption
It’s not bloody likely that the oil companies are
going to stop producing oil however you can
reduce their profits. As a consumer, we can
make choices that will lessen the impact that oil
has on race, poverty, and the environment. So
as much as you can, ride your bike, take public
transportation, buy a hybrid car, set your
thermostat to 65 degrees, use solar power,
don’t buy a SUV, and for god’s sake don’t vote
for George Bush in 2004.
References
 http://www.junkscience.com/dec98/sf
mtbe.htm
 http://www.cbecal.org/alerts/oil/index.
shtml
 http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/paleo/globa
lwarming/what.html
 http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwar
ming.nsf/content/Impacts.html
 http://www.eco-
action.org/dt/mad2.html
 http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/p
hotos/exxon/exxon.html
 http://acclaimimages.com/
 http://chevron.com/
 http://
www.shell.com/home/Framework?siteI
d 
=home
 http://www.bp.com/home.do
 http://www.76.com/
 http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-
drilling2.htm
 http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-
drilling3.htm
 http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-
drilling4.htm
 http://www.moles.org/uwa/index.html
 http://www.schoolscience.co.uk/content/4
/chemistry/fossils/p7.html
 http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/phot
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 http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-
drilling1.htm
 ktvu.com
 http://www.detroithummer.com/weeklyspe
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http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch
5en
 http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/non-
renewable/oil.html
References
 http://www.itopf.com/stats.html
 http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-
refining2.htm
 http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-
refining5.htm
 http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-
refining3.htm
 http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-
refining6.htm
 Economides, Michael and Oligney, Ronald.
The Color of Oil. Texas: Round Oak
Publishing. 2000
 Olukoya, Sam. Environmental Justice from
the Niger Delta to the World Conference
Against Racism.
http://www.corpwatch.org/issues/PID.jsp?
articleid=18. Race, Poverty, and the Urban
Environment Reader. Professor
Pinderhughes. 10 April 2004
 Sheppard, Nora. Introduction to the Oil
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