Jurupa Valley and the Stringfellow Acid Pits
Written by: Moses Yoon
When thinking of the various environmental hazards in our world, we are expected to think of rising global temperatures, air and water quality deterioration, or the rise of sea levels. However, aside from climate change crises, there are also hidden environmental crises in our vicinity and community. This writing will explore the environmental harms caused by the Stringfellow acid pits in Jurupa Valley, California, especially looking into the various harms caused, stakeholders, and possible solutions.
Setting and Community Assets
Before looking into the environmental crisis, the following section will briefly overlook the setting and community assets of the city. To start with the basic setting, the Stringfellow Acid Pit is located in the city of Jurupa Valley, Riverside, California. Regarding the city's demographics, according to the US Census Bureau, Jurupa Valley has higher concentrations in population when coming to a select few ethnicities. For instance, whilst the Hispanic or Latino population covered 72% of the total city population, other ethnicities, such as Asian and Black or African American, were a mere 4.5% and 3.4%, respectively (US Census 2023). Knowing that, in general, in the United States, ethnicities such as Hispanics are more likely to be exposed to various injustices when compared to more predominant ethnicities such as White people, it is possible to infer that the demographic data alone can infer possible racial injustices in the city; possibly an environmental injustice.
Furthermore, although having a higher median household income than the national average - $91,562 compared to the average of $75149 - located in Southern California, the slightly higher median income, when factoring the city’s location, doesn’t significantly impact overall quality of life. Not only that, but also, through data provided by the US Census Bureau, it has been found that a significant portion of the city's population under the age of 65 years (14.5%) does not have access to healthcare (US Census 2023). Also, when looking up ‘urgent care’ in Jurupa Valley, it can be seen that the city itself doesn’t have its own urgent care facility.
Thus, when combining the knowledge gained from the heavy Hispanic or Latino population, lack of health care access and local medical infrastructure/assets, it can be inferred that when faced with environmental harm, the people of Jurupa Valley won’t be able to adequately combat the harms when compared to other more affluent cities. In other words, just by observing some aspects of the city, it can be inferred that it possesses various potential environmental racism cases.
Stringfellow Acid Pit and its Environmental Impacts
Now that the basic understanding of the setting - the city of Jurupa Valley - has been established, the following section will highlight the harm caused by the Stringfellow Acid Pits to residents.
To briefly summarize the history of the acid pits, located on a 20-acre (8-ha) site in Pyrite Canyon above Glen Avon, the Stringfellow Acid Pits - also known as Stringfellow Quarry Waste Pits - was created as several high-tech companies began to dump their hazardous wastes into the canyon in the mid-1950s. Due to a lack of technology, science, and awareness, no special precautions were taken in the initial stages of the acid pits and like cavemen, they simply "dug a hole and dumped" the hazardous, potentially harmful wastes (Environmental Encyclopedia). Today, the Stringfellow Acid Pits still pose a great threat to the city and the residents, as recent battery acids from a battery plant in LA County pose harm, such as leaching water and soil.
Aside from the history of the acid pits, the main prevailing threat is water pollution. Due to the naturally dry nature of the city's geography, the city's soil tends to harden and become impermeable due to the lack of participation. This may seem positive as it prevents harmful acids from seeping into underground water reservoirs from the pits. However, although not prevalent, when rainfall does happen in the region, the region is prone and vulnerable to flash floods. In other words, when local "heavy rain [falls], the site flood[s], causing the ponds to overflow their banks", thus resulting in mass toxic runoff from the acid pits consisting of 200 hazardous chemicals including hydrochloric, sulfuric, and nitric acids. PCBs, VOCw, and other heavy metals. Chloroform, one of the 200 hazardous chemicals in the runoffs, is known to cause "liver and kidney damage", while others, such as tetrachloroethylene "can adversely affect the human nervous system" (Butler, Fukurai, 1987). Not only damage but at higher levels of exposure, one could experience "kidney dysfunction" and ultimately "death" (Butler, Fulurai, 1987). Yet, apart from the toxic runoff, it has been found that the toxins also seep "into the underlying groundwater aquifer", affecting the city of Jurupa Valley as well as neighboring cities such as "Gen Avon" and "Mira Loma" (Frazar Onder Environmental Lawyers, 2023).
The following environmental harms not only endanger the livelihood of the population, especially after knowing of Jurupa Valley’s lack of medical infrastructure and access to health care but also may result in other issues, such as the deterioration of the economy as local farms are affected by the runoff and the reduction of city population as more and more residents migrate out of the city due to the rising environmental issues. Thus, when left unaddressed, ultimately, the city could become a, said, ‘ghost town’, left alone to wither away.
Stakeholders: Good and Bad
As per the definition, a stakeholder is a person with an interest or concern in something, and thus, the harms caused by the Stringfellow Acid Pits could refer to both the affecting and affected population, or in other words, the good and bad.
The major stakeholders are, of course, the residents near the Stringfellow Acid Pits. Due to their proximity to the hazards, the residents have or are currently experiencing various side effects on their health, such as cardiovascular diseases and birth defects. The negatives, such as birth defects, are similar to the negative health hazards, as seen in a similar case of the Love Canal Disaster. Thus, not only are the toxins harming current residents, they are also seen to affect the newer generations and cause various defects. Specifically, students or staff of local schools could be sub-stakeholders, especially at higher risks when looking into the residents. Schools such as Patriot High School are one example of such schools, located only mere blocks away from the Acid Pits. In addition, being mainly populated by ethnicities such as Latinos, this environmental crisis can also be seen as an environmental justice case - specifically, a case of environmental racism.
Another identifiable stakeholder group is the local environmental awareness organization, such as the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice (CCAEJ). Created in 1978 by the residents, the environmental group advocates and lobbies to seek better attention to the local environmental crisis. Notably, the CCAEJ was awarded "over $114 million" by the state after a "decades long fight" (CCAEJ 2020). The California Department of Toxic Substances Control, part of the CalEPA, is a notable government agency currently responsible for the clean-up and habitat rehabilitation taking place at the Stringfellow Acid Pits. However, being a government agency, although currently working to better the area, the clean-up efforts are slow and are currently limited to groundwater pollution clean-ups.
Now, looking into the harmful stakeholders, the most notable would be the RWQCB, who led the charge to create the Stringfellow Acid Pits as we know it today. Also, although hard to pinpoint one directly, another negative stakeholder would be the hundreds of manufacturers in the region who had dumped their toxic wastes into the pits.
Solutions for the Stringfellow Acid Pit and its Harm
Moving on from the setting, the environmental hazard, and the stakeholders behind the case, the following section will highlight various potential solutions to this noteworthy environmental crisis.
One major factor that ultimately led to the crisis at Jurupa Valley stemmed from the lack of communication between community members and elected officials. In fact, from the start of the dumping of wastes, "local residents have long pressed the authorities" to remove "all contaminated material", resulting from not only the lack of knowledge of the "full extent of the contamination" on aspects such as soil and water contaminations, researchers and politicians weren't able to address the needs of the residents properly and pursued continued dumping into the pits (Hill 1983). In addition, the residents - including parents, kids, and families - weren't updated on the health dangers lingering in the city and were left uninformed until the increased birth defect rates in the 1980s (Atlas 2021). Thus, one solution would be for local environmental organizations such as the CCAEJ to come in contact with the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, officials of the Stringfellow Acid Pits, local officials, and local news outlets - such as radio, news, and newspaper stations - to properly inform the public of the current situation of the environmental hazard and ensure transparency. The following action would not only increase transparency and eliminate the previous mishaps caused by lack of communication but would also increase and potentially restore trust within the community. As seen in other environmental justice cases, such as the Flint Water Crisis, a major cause of stalling/limited change in bettering environmental issues is the lack of trust between the community and the people responsible for the crises. Thus, to summarize, providing information to the public by coordinating with the officials at the acid pits and the government agencies responsible for the pits through environmental awareness agencies such as the CCAEJ will not only eliminate communications issues but also increase trust to facilitate the clean-up process.
Another potential solution would be to pass more bills similar to AB 777. In context, AB 777, introduced by assembly member Sabrina Cervantes, "further expand[s] prohibition at the Stringfellow [Acid] Pits" to restrict further contamination of local assets such as the soil and water (Cervantes 2023). The introduction of more bills similar to AB 777 will not only eliminate the total introduction of new hazardous toxins in the region but will also serve as an example/blueprint for other states in the country experiencing similar or worse problems to copy off - thus not only eliminating the environmental harms in the region of Jurupa Valley but also on a national scale.
Conclusion
To summarize, the Jurupa Valley - located in Riverside, California - has been undergoing serious environmental crises due to the local super-fund site of the Stringfellow Acid Pits. Not only from the the toxins from the acid pits resulting into environmental issues such as contamination of underground water reservoir and soil, but also from other factors such as lack of environmental infrastructure and access to healthcare and communication/transparency between stakeholders, the case of Jurupa Valley is a serious environmental justice issues to be aware of. Thus, in order to address such a crisis, it is necessary for organizations such as the CCAEJ to supply the residents with the needed information regarding the acid pits in cooperation with government and acid pit officials as well as for local officials such as assembly members to pursue passing more bills such as the AB 777.
Bibliography
U.S. Census Bureau. U.S. Census Bureau. Accessed February 25, 2024. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045219.
"Environmental Encyclopedia." Last modified February 2023. Accessed February 21, 2024. www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/stringfellow-acid-pits
Butler, Edgar W. "A Case Study of The Stringfellow Acid Pits Dump Site and Congenital Abnormalities." University of California, Riverside, June 16, 1988. https://people.ucsc.edu/~hfukurai/documents/InternationalJofEnvironmentalStudies1988.pdf.
OnderLaw. “Stringfellow Superfund Site | Stringfellow Acid Pits.” Accessed February 15, 2024. https://www.onderlaw.com/environmental-lawyer/superfund-sites/california/stringfellow/
CCAEJ. 2020. “Our Roots.” CCAEJ. 2020. https://www.ccaej.org/our-roots.
“Cleanup of Waste Site Studied in Coast Talks.” by Gladwin Hill. March 2, 1983. Accessed 22 Feb. 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/02/us/cleanup-of-waste-site-studied-in-coast-talks.html
“Ej Atlas.” n.d. Ejatlas.org. https://ejatlas.org/conflict/stringfellow-toxic-waste-dump Accessed 22 Feb. 2024
Cervantes, Sabrina. 2023. “Bill Expanding Protection of Stringfellow Acid Pits in Jurupa Valley Signed by Newsom | Official Website - Assemblymember Sabrina Cervantes Representing the 58th California Assembly District.” A58.Asmdc.org. 2023. https://a58.asmdc.org/news/20230911-bill-expanding-protection-stringfellow-acid-pits-jurupa-valley-signed-newsom.
