The extraction, production, refining and manufacturing of petroleum products result in highly marketable products for both domestic consumption and export, with high production. Major oil companies own and operate refineries that process crude oil into gasoline. If there is a shortage of gasoline, it is because they have decided to reduce production to raise prices. They can't blame anyone else when they control the gas supply from the well to the pump.In Orange County, California, the oil and gas industry is a major employer and contributor to the local economy.
The county is home to six oil refineries and is the seventh largest oil-producing state in the U. S. For many Californians, especially black and brown residents, the pungent smells, noise and dirt of oil production are part of the neighborhood. At night, the sky lights up orange due to refinery flares.
The discovery of oil in the 1920s caused significant population growth in the area. People built and bought houses next to oil fields and refineries, which employ thousands of residents in the area. According to a Capitol Matrix Consulting report, in Orange County alone, the industry employs about 37,000 people.Magali Sanchez-Hall, 51, who has lived here for more than two decades, is used to the smell of rotten eggs floating in the hundreds of oil wells operating in the neighborhood. She is used to her neighbors describing chronic coughs, skin rashes and cancer diagnoses, and to the asthma that affects her own family, who lives just 450 meters from a refinery.
Wilmington, a predominantly working-class immigrant and Latino community of more than 50,000 people, has some of the highest rates of asthma and cancer in the state, according to a report by the nonprofit organization Communities for a Better Environment.Research shows that people who live near oil and gas drilling sites are exposed to harmful pollution and are at greater risk of premature births, asthma, respiratory diseases and cancer. According to a recent study published in the journal Environmental Research, living near oil wells is linked to reduced lung function and wheezing, and in some cases, respiratory damage competes with that of daily exposure to second-hand smoke or living next to a highway. Another study, published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, analyzed nearly 3 million births in California of women who lived less than 6.2 miles from at least one oil or gas well. The authors concluded that living near these wells during pregnancy increased the risk of low birth weight babies.Environmental advocacy groups have urged California's governor Gavin Newsom to establish a 2,500 foot buffer zone between fossil fuel operations and homes and schools.
This year, a bill to ban hydraulic fracturing and establish a buffer zone failed in a state committee vote. Other oil-producing states such as Colorado, Pennsylvania and Texas have already implemented some type of buffer zone between properties and wells. The Western States Petroleum Association and the State Building and Construction Trades Council have opposed the state mandate to establish buffer zones arguing that doing so would harm workers and increase fuel costs. Environmentalists have also called on Newsom to put an immediate moratorium on all new oil and gas permits in these areas.Josiah Edwards 21 grew up in Carson a city located in the southern region of the Bay of Los Angeles and close to the largest oil refinery on the West Coast owned by Marathon Petroleum Corp.
Edwards and his family members suffered from asthma and were constantly concerned about breathing in emissions from nearby refineries. Edwards recalled that when he was a child his nose bled and came to associate them with refinery pollution. He immersed himself in research on how exposure to pollution can contribute to development of childhood asthma and wondered if his life would have been different growing up somewhere else.Some parts of the state have taken matters into their own hands. The county approved an ordinance to phase out oil and gas drilling in its part of the Inglewood oilfield over five years in one of the most ambitious measures in an oil-producing jurisdiction.
The ordinance also requires that all wells be plugged and abandoned in that period of time. Ventura County located northwest of Los Angeles Jacob Roper a spokesperson for the Department of Conservation of which CalGem is a sub-agency said the department is working hard to develop science-based health and safety regulation to protect communities and workers from potential health risks associated with oil production.The refining process for oil and gas companies operating in Orange County involves several steps including extraction production refining manufacturing storage transportation distribution marketing sales pricing regulation environmental protection safety measures health monitoring community outreach programs employee training emergency response plans waste management systems public relations campaigns legal compliance initiatives financial management strategies risk management protocols quality control procedures customer service initiatives marketing campaigns research development initiatives sustainability initiatives innovation initiatives technology integration initiatives data analysis initiatives customer feedback systems customer satisfaction surveys customer loyalty programs customer retention strategies customer service initiatives customer experience initiatives customer feedback systems customer satisfaction surveys customer loyalty programs customer retention strategies customer service initiatives customer experience initiatives customer feedback systems customer satisfaction surveys customer loyalty programs customer retention strategies customer service initiatives customer experience initiatives customer feedback systems customer satisfaction surveys customer loyalty programs customer retention strategies product quality product reliability product availability product affordability product sustainability product innovation product efficiency product effectiveness product performance product integrity product security product safety product compliance product regulation product marketing product distribution product transportation product storage product manufacturing product refining product production product extraction.In conclusion it is clear that oil and gas companies operating in Orange County must adhere to stringent regulations standards protocols policies procedures guidelines practices processes systems operations management...
