At the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the first and second busiest in the country, huge terminals receive millions of tons of goods and barrels of fossil fuel every year. There is also a metal recycling plant, shredding mountains of crushed trucks, buses and cars that release toxic material such as lead, zinc and copper.
Capital & Main reporter Aaron Cantú viewed the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach from the sky. During a March flight, which Capital & Main chartered via the nonprofit organization LightHawk to photograph the harbor, more than a dozen oil tankers and container vessels churned across the aqua green waters. Ships are the biggest polluters, and their numbers are increasing. There are also hundreds of oil wells at and near the ports. Some are located in areas that are vulnerable to sea level rise due to climate change.
Nearby residents exposed to pollution are compensated with funding for parks and asthma clinics, paid into a court-ordered fund by the very same polluters endangering the health of locals.
