Fenceline Community Tours
Norco
The Community (overview):
- The Concerned Citizens of Norco kept up a 15 year fight against Shell.
- Their fight was helped greatly when the Bucket Brigade provided them with buckets for taking air samples as they were able to prove that toxic releases were indeed occurring instead of just complaining about bad odors.
- Nobody from the Diamond community worked for Shell, in fact no black people in Norco worked for Shell, but many whites do. Consequently, it was only blacks leading the fight against Shell.
- Charity hospital had plans to do a health study in Norco because of the unusually high number of respiratory diseases in the community, but the study was abandoned post Katrina.
- There was an incident when a top blew off of one of the chemical containers at the Shell plant and landed on top of the playground they had built 25 feet away from the fenceline, luckily no children were playing there at the time or they most likely would have been killed.
- In another incident in 1990, a catcracker exploded, knocking houses off of their foundations and breaking windows and doors on other homes. In compensating for damages, Shell gave blacks and whites different appraisals.
- When the pipeline exploded in 1983 killing two people, one of who was a young boy, Shell gave the boy’s family $3,000 and never issued an apology.
- Shell has begun releasing chemicals very early in the morning, before people get up so that there will be no one around to notice or complain.
- She too voiced the grievance that shell has never offered insurance or a clinic to people living in the neighborhoods surrounding their plants.
The Polluter:
Information about the company and its pollutants.
Community Goals:
On June 11, 2002 the Concerned Citizens of Norco won their hard fought battle with Shell Oil. Since the death of two community members in an explosion in 1973, the Diamond neighborhood advocated for a fair buy out of their contaminated and dangerous properties. They demanded relocation from Shell, as Shell had moved on top of them in the 1950’s.
Older members of the Diamond community – women in their 60s and 70s – recount holding signs and picketing in front of Shell in the 1970’s. Nearly thirty years later, Shell finally listened. A small, four street neighborhood convinced the world’s second largest oil company to hear its demands.
The Louisiana Bucket Brigade began working with the Diamond community in 1999. We trained community members how to document Shell’s pollution in their neighborhood. We also worked hard to gain media exposure for the community. Our work resulted in 61 media stories in one 12 month period. During the final months of the campaign we organized a rally in front of Shell’s Houston headquarters. “Let My People Go” was the rallying cry. Stories appeared in the Houston Chronicle, Shell’s hometown newspaper.
The information on this site recounts steps toward the Diamond victory. Although the community’s demands were met, this victory must be seen in its context. An historic African American community has been uprooted and destroyed; community members are scattered in various places. This solution was a pragmatic response to a terrible problem. Diamond community members still tearfully recount lives lost to strange cancers and an alarmingly high rate of asthma. They recognize that relocation was the solution that could save their lives. However, there must be alternatives found; petrochemical giants swallowing towns and entire tracts of history is a sad solution.
Diamond is the site of the 1811 slave revolt, the largest slave revolt in history. The spirit of resistance is strong there. The community is mostly grassy, empty spaces now, with a Shell Chemical plant next door.
Diamond community members are now supporting other communities around the world affected by Shell’s operations. Port Arthur, Texas, and Durban, South Africa are two communities that continue to suffer the ills of living too close to Shell.
Key Players:
|
Shell Chemical LP |
Postal Address: |
Shell Chemical LP |
Site Manager: |
Carol Triebel |
Telephone: |
+1 504 465 7342 |
Fax Number: |
+1 504 465 6310 |
Emergency Telephone: |
+1 504 465 7342 |
Telephone: |
+1 504 465 7111 |
In Their Own Words:
- Iris’s mother died of a mysterious disease that the doctors attributed to chemicals from the Shell chemical plant, her sister also died of a disease linked to chemical plants. Iris herself developed asthma late in life as a result of living near the plants, and since moving away the severity of her asthma has lessened greatly.
- It was not until the Concerned Citizens of Norco brought in outside help, and started getting media coverage and generating a lot of negative press for Shell, that Shell began to listen. Shell brought in black employees from out of state to try and intimidate Norco citizens.
- People jumped at the buyout opportunity, despite its unfairness, because they wanted to take what they could and get out while they were still alive and could leave. Also, Shell placed a time limit on accepting the offer.
- Shell tried to break up the community even further, at first offering to buy out only the first two streets in the Diamond community, people had to fight to get the second two bought out. This was especially problematic in certain cases, such as when someone from one of the first two streets is taking care of their sick mother, who lives on one of the second two streets.
- She considers the buyout unfair, not only because Shell did not offer people enough money to be able to afford houses in other locations, but also because, as she put it, “How do you pay for somebody’s memories?” This long-established, extremely tight-knit community (“one big family” as Iris put it) has been torn apart, 200 families uprooted and scattered, these people can never go home because home is no longer there. Though there are still a few hangers-on, she believes everyone will leave eventually, there are no neighbors anymore, and it is almost a ghost town.
Researchers: Alice Murphy & Elisa Avila