The Phillips 66 Los Angeles Refinery, operating for over a century in the Carson and Wilmington neighborhoods, has long impacted predominantly Black and Brown communities with pollution and health risks. Set to close by the end of 2025, its legacy raises urgent questions about environmental justice, corporate accountability, and the future of those still breathing its emissions.
By Zaakiyah Brisker, SCOPE’s Communications Associate
Growing up in South Central Los Angeles, it felt like every other kid I knew needed an inhaler. Asthma wasn’t just common—it was expected. The wheezing, emergency room visits, and missed school days were all part of life here. But as I got older, I realized something: this wasn’t normal. It was environmental violence.
When wildfires tore through California, my marathon training came to a halt. The air was thick with smoke, making it dangerous to even step outside. The news urged people to stay indoors, use air purifiers, and leave town if possible. But South LA had no such relief. Our community was already struggling with pollution from oil drilling, auto body shops, dry cleaners, manufacturing facilities, freeway corridors, warehouses, and chemical plants. The fires weren’t the start of our air quality crisis—they were just another layer of harm on top of what we were already breathing every day.
The wildfires weren’t just an isolated disaster—they were a reminder of how environmental injustice compounds in communities like mine. While some had the means to escape the smoke, South LA had no such option. It was a crisis layered on another crisis. This is why climate reparations cannot be separated from the broader fight for justice. If we don’t address the pollution in our air, the toxins in our soil, and the corporate policies that make our communities sacrifice zones, then we are not truly repairing harm.
Reparations Must Include Climate Repair
When I first read Reconsidering Reparations by Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, I was drawn to his idea that reparations should be more than just financial compensation—they must transform the very systems that caused harm in the first place. Táíwò argues that reparations must be constructive—not just about acknowledging past injustices but actively reshaping the policies and institutions that continue to distribute harm and advantage along racial lines.
As of yet, the fight for reparations in California, with its focus on property and education, has reached a crossroads. After years of work by the state’s Reparations Task Force, policy recommendations to address historical harms against Black Californians remain stalled, with no clear commitment from lawmakers to implement them. At the same time, the Civil Rights Department—one of the few agencies with the authority to hold corporations accountable—is at risk of being dismantled. These setbacks send a clear message: the fight for reparations will not be given to us. We must take up the battles that have the greatest impact.
This idea is especially urgent for South LA, where environmental harm isn’t a distant memory—it’s a daily reality. Corporate pollution has long defined the landscape of our neighborhoods. Oil drilling, industrial plants, and major freeway corridors weren’t placed here by coincidence; they were embedded into South LA through decades of intentional policy choices that treated Black and Brown communities as expendable. When corporations finish extracting profit, they leave behind a toxic legacy: polluted air, contaminated land, and rising health problems, all without consequence.
For decades, companies like Phillips 66, Bethlehem Steel, Goodyear Tires, and Firestone operated massive industrial plants in South LA. These factories pumped pollution into our air, dumped hazardous waste into our communities, and exposed generations to environmental harm—all while building their profits off our labor. When the economy shifted, they moved operations overseas, leaving South LA with a toxic legacy of illness.
Táíwò describes the world as a “Global Racial Empire”—a system where colonialism and slavery built the economic structures that still determine who breathes clean air and who doesn’t. South LA is proof these structures remain intact. Our communities have paid the price of industrial pollution for generations, while corporations extract wealth and abandon us when the profits run out.
Reparations must go beyond redistribution. They must rebuild the system itself. For South LA, that means shifting the burden from residents to polluters, from communities to corporations.
SCOPE Members engaging in a Building Decarbonization Workshop led by Karen Romero in collaboration with SAJE and PSR-LA.
The Fight for Climate Reparations in South LA
The irony isn’t lost on me. South Central is home to Nipsey Hussle, whose philosophy—”The Marathon Continues”—was about resilience, endurance, and collective effort. His Victory Lap celebrated the long road to justice. Yet I was physically unable to continue my own marathon because the air had been rendered too toxic to breathe.
The only way the marathon can continue—both metaphorically for South Central and literally for those of us fighting to exist in this environment—is through climate reparations.
That’s why SCOPE is taking action. As part of the California Environmental Justice Alliance, STAND-LA, the Los Angeles Right to Healthy Homes Coalition, the AIRE Coalition, and the Inglewood Oil Field Delegation, we are fighting for climate repair in frontline communities like South LA.
This work is led by Karen Romero Estrada, SCOPE’s Climate Justice Associate, who organizes with the Los Angeles for Resilient and Healthy Homes coalition and Leap LA to ensure tenants aren’t displaced under the banner of environmental upgrades, while pushing for housing policies rooted in sustainability. Tanya Borja Valdovinos, SCOPE’s Environmental Justice Policy Associate, works with STAND-LA, CEJA, and the Inglewood Oil Field Delegation to advance policies that phase out oil drilling and demand that corporate polluters are held accountable for the harm they’ve caused.
One of the most critical fights is for the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act—legislation that would force corporations to take financial responsibility for the environmental destruction they’ve caused. For too long, Big Oil has profited while frontline communities suffer. This bill is a vital step toward climate reparations, ensuring those responsible pay for the damage rather than leaving communities like South LA to bear the cost.
The Fight for Reparations Isn’t Over
With the Reparations Task Force recommendations stalled and the Civil Rights Department under threat, it would be easy to feel the fight for justice is losing momentum. But history tells us that reparations will not be handed to us. If the state won’t move forward, we must organize where we have power.
That means fighting for reparations with the greatest material impact—holding polluters accountable, restoring our communities, and securing clean air, water, and land for future generations.
Take Action: Join the Fight for Climate Reparations
Táíwò’s call to “act like an ancestor” reminds us that reparations aren’t just about justice for the past—they are about building a livable future. The air we breathe should not be a privilege. The right to live in a healthy environment should not be up for debate.
That’s why we’re fighting to pass the Polluters Pay Act and hold corporations accountable. If you believe in climate reparations, take action now. Join SCOPE’s movement for climate justice. Sign the petition to make polluters pay. Because if the marathon is to continue, it must be run on clean air. Climate reparations are the only way forward.
