I am currently reading Oil on the Brain by Lisa Margonelli. Every page in the book so far has had quotable passages and new (to me) information. Its a fascinating book where Margonelli follows the flow of oil backward: from the pump to the ground. I generally am not a very obsessive person, but the subject of oil fascinates me. I don’t think any other earthly resource has affected life on earth to such a tremendous extent.
I am at the point in the book where she is at BP’s oil refinery in Long Beach (satellite image on google maps). Long Beach is another possible location we’re considering living in since it borders LA county. After witnessing a minor problem at the refinery Margonelli encounters Sue Sharp, an environmental manager working for BP.
Sue says she was attracted to environmental engineering because she likes its "gray areas," and in L.A., with its combination of smog and tough politics, she has found a big gray area. Sue describes the regulations here as "the most stringent in the world."
The amount of pollution a refinery emits depends partly on where it is, partly on who’s regulating it, and partly on how hard they’re trying. Los Angeles has become a leader in emissions regulation, a place where activisits push the boundaries to make changes across the United States. "It’s a trickle-up approach," says Julia May, who spent seventeen years are a staff scientist at the environmental advocacy group Communities for a Better Environment. "We get regulations adopted on refineries here with the local agencies. There’s always a huge fight But once you show it can be done these regulations spread across the country."
Although my husband is attracted to LA for the weather and the beaches and the Southern California lifestyle, I’m attracted to LA because it seems to be a city that is on the forefront of many environmental activism among other reasons.
