Santa Ana Residents Fight for Environmental Justice

by Renee Grange

Environmental racism refers to the correlation between race and greater exposure to environmental hazards. A history of environmental racism can be observed in California through racist policies, i.e. red lining, that have pushed lowincome Latinx communities into neighborhoods with closer proximity to sources of pollution such as manufacturing plants or freeways. In response, many Latinx communities have formed grassroots movements in order to fight for the environmental safety of their communities.

In Santa Ana, a resident driven organization called Comunidad Unida Aire Limpio (CUAL) is advocating for clean air in their community. CUAL was officially established in 2019, but the organization began to sprout much earlier, in 2017, when residents in Madison Park received a letter from the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) informing them that BRASTEC, a metal plating company, was planning on building a factory within 1000 ft of local elementary schools. This notice was only sent in English even though a significant portion of the local community are monolingual Spanish speakers.. Local mothers responded by collaborating with surrounding schools and the Madison Park Neighborhood Association to pressure the city councilmember at the time, Vicente Sarmiento, to contact SCAQMD and address the issue.

Although SCAQMD did not oppose the construction of this factory, this event led the community to learn more about the industries that were polluting their neighborhood, specifically those in the industrial corridor. The industrial corridor is a narrow, rectangular area that contains 42 polluting industries that have permits from SCAQMD to release polluting chemicals into the air and, as a result, are not further monitored by the city. On top of the industrial corridor, Southeast Santa Ana, where Madison Park is located, is denoted as an industrial area on the City of Santa Ana’s Land Use Plan. When looking at CalEPA’s Air Quality Map, it is notable that Southeast Santa Ana contains a worse air quality than surrounding areas. This indicates that there may be other industries further contributing to pollution in the area.

When residents became aware of the environmental pollution in the area, they began examining levels of air pollution so as to gain a better understanding of the extent of contamination and its possible effects on the community. The long term goal of this investigation is to give the community the power to influence the environmental justice policies that are to be added in the revisions of Santa Ana’s next general plan.

In order to begin conducting research on the air quality, CUAL received a grant from the California Air Resources Board. After receiving this grant, CUAL presented at different forums in several neighborhood associations in areas surrounding Madison Park, spreading awareness on the issue of pollution and encouraging many people to get involved.

With funding and new members, CUAL ran their first air monitoring study that aimed to compare the air quality of different areas to identify any hotspots of poor air quality in the city as well as the sources of pollution. The findings from this initiative demonstrated to citizens and government officials alike that additional research on air pollution is necessary. CUAL also conducted an asthma study in collaboration with UC Irvine in order to compare the rates of asthma in different parts of Santa Ana and found that rates of asthma were higher in Madison Park than in other areas of the city. These results indicate that there may be a correlation between asthma rates and the industrial corridor, but more research must be conducted to verify the results.

In an interview with Leonel Flores, CUAL’s community organizer, he spoke about another project CUAL is involved in, regarding the working conditions at Kingspan Light and Air, a factory located in the industrial corridor. Workers at Kingspan were concerned about air pollution in the factory since they are not provided adequate safety equipment in their work: welding, spray painting, and manufacturing fiberglass. In collaboration with UCI, workers wore air monitoring devices provided by CUAL around their neck to work and found that the average measurement inside was 112.3 micrograms per cubic meter. This measurement is worse than the air quality in Santa Ana during the 2020 San Francisco wildfires, which at a high of around 80 micrograms per cubic meter was dangerous enough for government officials to discourage people from going outside. Utilizing this research, workers at Kingspan are continuing to organize and advocate for safer working conditions and for the company to measure the factory’s pollution levels. Flores is involved in this advocacy work and, along with other leaders, meets with Kingspan managers to negotiate these demands.

The scope of environmental pollution in Southeast Santa Ana is substantial and the topic of air pollution only scratches the surface. Despite this, Flores remains motivated to continue working on these initiatives, as both a leader and resident of Madison Park. Flores hopes to build off the momentum of CUAL’s successes so far, as they have undertaken research projects and empowered the community to use their voice in city politics to effect change. To learn more about this organization you can visit @mpna.green on Instagram!