Elkind: Federal WWII mobilization pressured LA to override 1930s oil drilling regulations
Dr. Sarah Elkind · The hidden history of California oil · May 11, 2022 · at 18:29
Historian Dr. Sarah Elkind describes how federal WWII wartime needs led to federal intervention overriding municipal drilling restrictions in Los Angeles.
0:00 / 0:33exact quote · 33.2s
720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“California, and particularly Los Angeles, is one of the major sources of oil for the Pacific Fleet. So the federal war mobilization involves mobilizing the oil industry in Los Angeles, particularly to fuel the Pacific fleet. And what that looks like is federal pressure on the city to allow drilling wherever, wherever the oil is. And direct pressure to reverse or ignore those regulations that were passed in the 19 thirties.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Dr. Sarah Elkind
Elkind: Post-WWII oil companies targeted drilling in working-class Hispanic communities
“So, at the end of the war, that justification of the war emergency goes away, but the oil companies don't stop asking, and what they do is they concentrate their asks in the working class Hispanic communities.”
Elkind: LA Residential Subdivisions Pre-Dated Oil Discoveries, Forcing Disguised Urban Wells
“What happened in LA and the reason you have oil wells disguised as other kinds of things in Los Angeles right in these residential neighborhoods is the residential neighborhoods were built first, or at least the land was subdivided for development first, and t…”
Elkind: Tightly Packed Wells at Signal Hill Caused Pollution, Explosions, and Fires
“So there are pictures from the oil field at Signal Hill, which is just above Long Beach in Los Angeles Harbor, and it looks like a hedgehog. It looks like a porcupine. They're just, their wells are so tightly packed, and this caused really serious problems wit…”