John Beard takes no pleasure in being right. In January, he told Capital B that he feared U.S. military action in Venezuela, which ultimately gave America preferential access to the South American nation’s vast oil reserves, would lead to disaster in southeast Texas. “The chickens have come home to roost,” Beard said over the phone, […]
oil and gas
Posted inAir Pollution, Environmental Justice, Politics & Policy
Venezuelan Oil Brought to the U.S. Would Be Refined in Black Gulf Communities
On Saturday morning, John Beard woke up to news that he’d been dreading, but preparing for: A global oil crisis could hit closer to home in Texas. The southeastern part of the state is home to more than a dozen oil refineries, and he’d spent decades working at one of them. But after attending more […]
Posted inClimate Change, Environmental Justice, Land Pollution, Unsafe Water
How Plastics and Fossil Fuels Are Making Black Communities Unlivable
Copyright © 2025 by Beyond Plastics. This excerpt originally appeared in The Problem with Plastic: How We Can Save Ourselves and Our Planet Before It’s Too Late, published by The New Press. Reprinted here with permission. Debra Ramirez lives at a place where survival and sacrifice meet. She knows the winding back roads that crisscross […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Health, Land Pollution, Reproductive Health
Black Women in South LA Lead the Fight to End Urban Oil Drilling
LOS ANGELES — When the winds shifted last January and smoke from wildfires settled into South LA, the city’s low-lying neighborhoods, residents there didn’t need another study to tell them the air was unsafe. They could feel it. For Iretha Warmsley, the soot raining down was another reminder of what decades of fossil fuel extraction […]
Posted inClimate Change, Environmental Justice, Partner Content
History of Racism Leaves Black Californians Most at Risk from Oil and Gas Drilling, Research Shows
This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. It is republished with permission. Sign up for their newsletter here. Decades before movie moguls produced celluloid heroes, oil claimed the spotlight in Los Angeles. California’s oil industry took off in the mid-1870s just 30 miles […]