Historical Pollution
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Historically the Stringfellow Acid Pits location was used as a dump site for toxic chemicals by several major technological companies in the mid-1950s. 18 of them were involved in the civil lawsuit that resulted from the pollution. The canyon was used as a dump site for hazardous waste for over twenty years. The canyon generated over 34 million gallons of toxic chemicals -- a mixture of over 200 carcinogens, and other metals.
In 1972 James Stringfellow (owner of the canyon) announced that he was shutting down the canyon.
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However, the closing of the canyon did not erase the long history of toxic dumping into the canyon. Contamination from the site leached into groundwater and spread for miles through the Jurupa Valley, forcing closure of private drinking water wells.
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) put Stringfellow on its National Priorities List in 1983. Recognized as the most polluted site in California, it became the EPA's first superfund site.
Episode One of a 3-Part Micro-Series™ about "Stringfellow", California's most notorious toxic site.
Environmental Justice:
"The fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and
policies. Fair treatment means that no population, due to policy or economic disempowerment, is forced to bear a disproportionate share of the negative human health or environmental impacts of pollution or environmental consequences resulting from industrial, municipal, and commercial operations, or the execution of federal, state, local and tribal programs and policies.”
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Environmental Injustices is considered the unsafe environmental conditions of the areas in which we live, work, play and go to school -- low-income, people of color suffer from these environmental injustices in disproportional ratios (Environmental Racism).
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In order to ensure Environmental justice is being withheld there is three categories of equity: Procedure Equity, Geographic Equity, and Social Equity.
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The Stringfellow Acid Pits case is an example of an environmental injustice because the Glen Avon community was not treated aware of the pollution they were surrounded by. The environmental justice's towers of equity were all violated.
Further exploration on how in the following pages.
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Website Mission:
The mission behind the construction of this website is to provide condensed summaries of a long, and exhaustive environmental injustice - The Stringfellow Acid Pits.
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The summaries are meant to provide educational insight on the Stringfellow case. Information presented is based on research, and meant solely to inform communities of the historical pollution through the environmental justice framework.
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