It’s been three weeks since the governor of California, Jerry Brown, issued a state of emergency regarding the ongoing Aliso Canyon gas leak that has spewed up to 58,000 kilograms of methane per hour since Oct. 23. Without doing too much math, that equates to about two and a half months since the natural gas well released a trove of delightful job-creating and completely harmless vapors into the atmosphere before any declaration of emergency took place.
My apologies, did I say completely harmless? I meant noxious and carcinogenic. So carcinogenic in fact that, in an effort to save their skins, the folks at Southern California Gas Co. were revealed to be understating the levels of benzene emitted from their gracious gift to the Southern Californian atmosphere. As I understand it, this latest infraction was taking the spotlight away from the company’s initial decision not to promptly inform any of the nearby residents when the leak first began. And though I, like many Southern Californians, love the smell of capitalism in the morning, I’d like to be able to breathe first.
I say folks because, well, in these great United States, in the spirit of foregoing unison as we are wont to do, we have decided that corporations are people. And by we, I of course mean five robed Sith Lords who feign to know what’s best for the people.
SoCalGas was merely the owner of the second largest gas storage facility at Aliso Canyon Oil Field. But through perseverance, peerless leadership and not having to worry about vexing regulation, they have secured their place as pioneers in the destruction of our planet. Once thought to be the “my-bad” to trump all other environmental disasters, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill has now been surpassed by the Aliso Canyon gas leak in carbon footprint size. And you know what they say about folks with large carbon footprints.
However, while corporations enjoy the benefits of personhood, they seem to evade any consequences that might befall a person should they, I don’t know, decide to ruin the breathing air for thousands of others in their neighborhood or destroy swaths of marine ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico. Did I mention they are also putting thousands of people out of work?
Yet even in the face of such flagrant offense, there are masses of Americans who flock to the defense of those newest to personhood and remain convinced that any regulation toward companies like these will hinder productivity and increase unemployment. For in the argument in favor of unfettered business practices by large oil and natural gas companies, the jobs of those whose livelihoods focus on the ecology of their communities are worth nothing in comparison to those on the oil or gas rig.
Regulations finally rode in on Saturday — more Don Quixote than Gandalf during the Battle of Helm’s Deep — when the South Coast Air Quality Management District voted to implement new restrictions toward the gas company and set future rules for others. But those eager to see justice served have not had their due and most likely will not. While it’s obvious that regulation concerning operations that are inherently dangerous to workers and the environment needs to increase, there’s a point that’s missing.
This isn’t an anti-capitalist manifesto — it’s anti-greed. We’ve tried greed for far too long in our nation and in nations beyond. Both the private sector and the government are at fault for the disaster that’s still going on in Southern California, due both to SoCalGas’s determination to keep the public deaf, dumb and blind to the severity of the situation and the government’s lack of action and ongoing catering to illicit business practices such as these. A look at other man-made environmental crises reveals not bureaucracy as the sole assailant, but unchecked greed as well.
The destruction of our environment is the fight of my time and of yours. It’s ours. And while there are those pioneers in technology who are bringing us away from indifferent pollution, it is up to those who actually care to demand that those concerned only with quarterly reports be held responsible.
Justin Ford is a UF journalism junior. His column appears on Tuesdays.
