The Increasing Burden of Oil Refineries and Fossil Fuels in ...

18 The Increasing Burden of Oil Refineries and Fossil FuellIn addition to oil refining, oil drilling is causing more fossilfuel cumulative impacts right in WilmingtonAs if ports, freeways, and refineries weren’t enough, Wilmington contains the third largest oilfield in the U.S.The oil field was previously considered depleted, but inrecent years with new methods and the incentive of highoil prices, drilling has ramped up. CBE’s Wilmington oildrilling campaign began in 2006. People living aroundthe Warren E&P drilling operations contacted CBEto report severe noise, sickening smells, air and waterpollution, and breathing problems after the companypurchased the site. Neighbors reported constant dieseltruck traffic through the residential streets, dust and oilyresidue covering and invading homes, constant flaring(from a stack burning oil field gas), and heavy vibrationsat all hours of the day and night, seven days a week.Although drilling operations occurred at this site inthe past (at a much reduced level), when Warren E&Ppurchased the facility, production drastically increased,as did impacts on the community where it sits. Recenttechnological advances now allow oil companies to drilllaterally, reaching out underground to large areas, thatpreviously would have been drilled from other locations.That means much larger volumes of oil and gas can comeout of one drilling site, in a very intensive operation.Warren E&P has concentrated its drilling operations inthis way at the “Wilmington Town Lot,” in a residentialneighborhood. Even though it borders an industrial area,it is hard to understand why such a neighborhood sitewould be chosen.After neighbors called us, CBE worked together with thecommunity to devise strategies to stop the impacts of thedrilling. These included evaluating Warren’s compliancewith air, water, toxics and land use regulations, identifyingmethods and equipment to reduce flaring and air pollution,pushing for enforcement of existing bans for largediesel truck traffic through the neighborhood, gettingpaving and street-sweeping requirements implementedto stop the heavy construction dust blowing offsite, andpushing for better government agency monitoring.