Residents Harmed by Oil Drilling May Soon Receive Reparations Under New California Law
Residents Harmed by Oil Drilling May Soon Receive Reparations Under New California Law
加州新法案：受石油钻探影响的居民有望获得赔偿
As a child in the 1950s and ’60s, Regina Martin became so used to the oil pumpjacks near her home that she assumed every child lived beside them. Everyone was made “sick to [their] tummy” by the sulfurous, rotten-egg smell that never seemed to leave, she thought. 20世纪50年代和60年代，雷吉娜·马丁（Regina Martin）在孩提时代就已经习惯了家附近的石油抽油机，以至于她以为每个孩子都住在这些机器旁边。她当时认为，那种挥之不去的硫磺臭鸡蛋味让每个人都感到“反胃”。
Only until she was grown did she begin to see a possible connection between growing up on top of the nation’s largest urban oil drilling field and her own sickness and the asthma that affected her sister. 直到成年后，她才开始意识到，在全国最大的城市油田上长大，与她自己的疾病以及她妹妹所患的哮喘之间，可能存在某种联系。
For over a century in Los Angeles and across the nation, Black people have been disproportionately likely to live near oil wells, the machinery that draws oil from deep underground. The pollution from these drilling sites are connected to birth complications, child development issues, respiratory illnesses, and cancer. 一个多世纪以来，在洛杉矶乃至全美范围内，黑人居住在石油井（从地下深处抽取石油的机械装置）附近的比例一直高得不成比例。这些钻探点产生的污染与出生并发症、儿童发育问题、呼吸系统疾病和癌症密切相关。
Now, a new California state law moves to turn that lived experience into a broader public-policy question: What does a state owe communities exposed to pollution for generations? And what happens when you can’t offer support to every family that has struggled through the harm? 如今，加州的一项新法律试图将这种生活经历转化为一个更广泛的公共政策问题：对于几代人都暴露在污染中的社区，州政府亏欠他们什么？当你无法为每一个在伤害中挣扎的家庭提供支持时，又该怎么办？
California lawmakers have passed AB 1661, which would steer $5 million collected from penalized oil wells in Inglewood into direct cash aid for 1,000 nearby households with qualifying respiratory or reproductive health impacts. Some of LA’s Blackest suburbs and city neighborhoods, including Inglewood, Ladera Heights, and Baldwin Hills, surround the oil field. 加州立法者已通过 AB 1661 法案，该法案将把从英格尔伍德（Inglewood）受罚油井中收取的 500 万美元资金，直接用于向附近 1000 户患有相关呼吸系统或生殖健康问题的家庭提供现金援助。洛杉矶一些黑人聚居的郊区和社区，包括英格尔伍德、拉德拉高地（Ladera Heights）和鲍德温山（Baldwin Hills），都环绕着这片油田。
The legislation, introduced by Assemblymember Isaac G. Bryan, is expected to be signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom by October. It sets aside enough money for payments of up to $5,000 for 1,000 impacted households under its initial structure. The money would come from the state’s community repair and reinvestment fund for people living nearest the oil field. 该法案由州众议员艾萨克·G·布莱恩（Isaac G. Bryan）提出，预计将于 10 月前由州长加文·纽森（Gavin Newsom）签署成为法律。根据初步方案，该法案预留了足够的资金，为 1000 户受影响家庭每户提供最高 5000 美元的补助。这笔资金将来自州政府为居住在油田附近居民设立的社区修复与再投资基金。
For Black communities living nearest to refineries, highways, landfills, and oil wells, this fund may signal something larger than one oil field or payment. It asks whether money can begin to repair harms accumulated across generations: lives cut short by illness, household wealth drained by medical bills and depressed property values, and the anxiety of raising children amid pollution. 对于居住在炼油厂、高速公路、垃圾填埋场和油井附近的黑人社区来说，这笔基金的意义可能远超一个油田或一笔赔偿金。它提出了一个问题：金钱能否开始修复几代人积累下来的伤害——因疾病而缩短的生命、因医疗账单和房产贬值而耗尽的家庭财富，以及在污染环境中抚养孩子的焦虑。
Bryan and other supporters are calling it environmental reparations and say it is a model that could be replicated to make industrial companies help repair the damage borne by people living closest to polluting sites. 布莱恩和其他支持者将其称为“环境赔偿”，并表示这是一种可以复制的模式，旨在促使工业企业帮助修复那些居住在污染源附近的人们所承受的损害。
To Tianna Shaw-Wakeman, the environmental justice program director with Black Women for Wellness in LA, the law could provide a national organizing model. “My hope has always come at the community level, at the grassroots level,” she said. “I see how grassroots organizing has created long-term change in our local communities, and I see that that can be and is being replicated all over the country.” 对于洛杉矶“黑人女性健康组织”（Black Women for Wellness）的环境正义项目主任蒂安娜·肖-韦克曼（Tianna Shaw-Wakeman）来说，这项法律可以提供一个全国性的组织模式。“我的希望始终寄托在社区层面，在基层层面，”她说。“我看到了基层组织如何为我们的当地社区带来长期变革，我也看到这种模式可以在全国范围内被复制，并且正在被复制。”
For Bryan, who represents the communities surrounding the Inglewood Oil Field, the cash-assistance program is part of a longer fight over the field’s legacy. Bryan, the first Black legislator to chair the California Assembly’s Natural Resources Committee, said his constituents have faced lower life expectancies and higher rates of asthma and heart conditions for decades. 对于代表英格尔伍德油田周边社区的布莱恩来说，现金援助计划是针对该油田遗留问题长期斗争的一部分。作为首位担任加州众议院自然资源委员会主席的黑人议员，布莱恩表示，他的选民几十年来一直面临着预期寿命较低以及哮喘和心脏病发病率较高的问题。
“The company has essentially just been extracting from the community with no investments in the community, no care in the community and what feels like no regard at times for the broader community,” Bryan told Capital B. “The community … [is] due this repair, and it’s been long overdue.” “这家公司本质上只是在从社区中榨取利益，却没有对社区进行任何投资，没有对社区给予任何关怀，有时甚至感觉对整个社区毫无顾忌，”布莱恩告诉《Capital B》。“社区……理应得到这种修复，这早已是迟来的正义。”
The measure builds on Bryan’s earlier legislation, AB 2716, which Newsom signed in 2024. That law requires the Inglewood Oil Field to close by 2030 and establish a penalty structure for low-producing wells. Low-producing wells can leak methane and other harmful gases into the air and water. To push operators to curb that pollution and clean up their sites, regulators imposed a penalty on companies that keep such wells operating. Bryan said operators are charged $10,000 per well each month, with the revenue directed into a community repair fund restricted to investments within 2.5 miles of the field. 该措施建立在布莱恩早先的法案 AB 2716 的基础上，该法案已于 2024 年由纽森签署。该法律要求英格尔伍德油田在 2030 年前关闭，并为低产油井建立惩罚机制。低产油井会将甲烷和其他有害气体泄漏到空气和水中。为了促使运营商遏制污染并清理现场，监管机构对继续运营此类油井的公司处以罚款。布莱恩表示，运营商每月每口井需缴纳 1 万美元罚款，收入将进入社区修复基金，仅限于投资在油田 2.5 英里范围内的项目。
The fund could eventually support affordable housing, urban greening, park infrastructure, and other community priorities, Bryan said. Bryan described the cash program as a pilot that could help determine whether direct payments are the form of repair residents most want. 布莱恩说，该基金最终可以支持经济适用房、城市绿化、公园基础设施和其他社区优先事项。布莱恩将现金援助计划描述为一个试点项目，旨在帮助确定直接支付是否是居民最希望的修复形式。
“We know people are struggling,” he said. “We know one of the biggest tools against an increasingly unaffordable society is to just put more money in people’s pockets.” “我们知道人们生活艰难，”他说。“我们知道，对抗日益难以负担的社会，最有效的工具之一就是让人们的口袋里有更多的钱。”
As communities nationwide press for stronger environmental protections, California’s experiment could test whether government and industry are willing to move beyond preventing future harm and toward compensating people who have already lived with its costs. 随着全国各地的社区都在推动更强有力的环境保护措施，加州的这一实验可能会检验政府和工业界是否愿意超越“预防未来伤害”的范畴，转而补偿那些已经承受了污染代价的人们。
“Community members who have been deeply impacted, whose health have been deeply impacted, have never gotten restitution for that in any sort of way. We deserve more than we have been getting,” Shaw-Wakeman said. “And as we transition our city, as we transition our county, part of that story has to be addressing past harms.” “那些深受影响、健康受到严重损害的社区成员，从未以任何方式获得过赔偿。我们理应得到比现在更多的东西，”肖-韦克曼说。“当我们推动城市和县域转型时，解决过去的伤害必须是其中的一部分。”
At the same time, California has passed a law that would shield reparation payments from taxation. “California is actively preparing for the implementation of reparations programs,” said state Assemblymember Tina McKinnor, who introduced the legislation. “We must ensure that recipients receive the full benefit of these efforts.” 与此同时，加州还通过了一项法律，规定赔偿金免征税款。“加州正在积极为实施赔偿计划做准备，”提出该立法的州众议员蒂娜·麦金诺（Tina McKinnor）表示。“我们必须确保受助者能充分获得这些努力带来的益处。”
Three dozen community groups came together in support of the environmental reparations legislation. There were no groups in public opposition. 三十多个社区团体联合起来支持这项环境赔偿立法。目前没有团体公开表示反对。
The legislation will not close the oil field or resolve the long-running fight over drilling in Los Angeles County. Under the proposal, eligible households within 2.5 miles of the field could seek aid if a resident has experienced respiratory or reproductive health impacts. 该立法不会关闭油田，也不会解决洛杉矶县关于钻探的长期争端。根据该提案，如果油田 2.5 英里范围内的居民患有呼吸系统或生殖健康问题，符合条件的家庭可以寻求援助。