University Library
Right of Way
University Library
Right of Way
The 1980s saw an upsurge of activism across the US around issues of hazardous and toxic waste disposal. In Los Angeles, toxic waste facilities are predominantly located in working-class communities, low-income communities, and communities of color, which means these Angelenos bear a disproportionate share of risks associated with waste disposal from groundwater contamination, soil contamination, air pollution, and more. Residents of these neighborhoods are not always afforded a reasonable opportunity to participate in siting activities, such that risks are sometimes imposed on them by a system that unequally distributes the burdens of urban growth.
The toxic waste movement in the 20th century has been a women's movement. Participants were often mothers who drew connections between toxic hazards and miscarriages, birth defects, children's health, and increased cancer rates. Many had participated in civil rights activism in previous decades, and were able to successfully apply strategies, practices, and networks learned and built in the 1960s and 1970s in the context of the politically conservative Reagan era in the US.
On display in this case is documentation of community activism, investigative journalism, and congressional hearings that reveal LAUSD began building the Belmont Learning Complex on a hazardous waste site; the extent of toxic and hazardous waste production and disposal in Vernon, California; and the multi-decade environmental clean-up and monitoring work underway at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, an industrial research and development facility where rocket testing, nuclear reactor testing, and liquid metal research occurred during the Cold War. Studies have revealed that Angelenos who live near the site are more likely to be diagnosed with certain cancers than those who do not.
Case 8, Zoning, is a tall case towards the center of the gallery.
1
Letter to Dr. Kaye Kilburn re. Testimony before LAUSD Board of Education, 1999Tom Hayden Belmont Learning Complex Investigation Collection
2
"Responses to Questions re. Belmont RFP"Frank del Olmo Collection
3
Waste Management, Inc., Non-Hazardous Waste Manifest, 1999Tom Hayden Belmont Learning Complex Investigation Collection
4
California Administrative Code, "Minimum Standards for Management of Hazardous and Extremely Hazardous Wastes"Senator Ed Davis Collection
5
"Hazardous Waste Haulers: Los Angeles and Vicinity," 1998Juana Beatriz Gutiérrez Mothers of East Los Angeles (MELA) Collection
6
"Cal EPA-Department of Toxic Substances Control: Vernon Area Site Status Overview," 1997Juana Beatriz Gutiérrez Mothers of East Los Angeles (MELA) Collection
7
ATSDR, "Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL)," 1999Juana Beatriz Gutiérrez Mothers of East Los Angeles (MELA) Collection
8
Booklet, "Toxics, Race & Class: The Poisoning of Communities," 1991Juana Beatriz Gutiérrez Mothers of East Los Angeles (MELA) Collection
9
"Environmental Monitoring Report...Surface Water, Hazardous Waste Management, Remediation, Community Outreach," 1992Boeing Company, Rocketdyne Propulsion and Power, Santa Susana Field Laboratory Activities Reports Collection
10
Letter to Elsa Lopez of the Mothers of East Los Angeles (MELA), 1998Juana Beatriz Gutiérrez Mothers of East Los Angeles (MELA) Collection
