Superblog #2 - Stringfellow Acid Pits

When I first started this project, I created a timeline of the Stringfellow events. It had a clear start date, in 1955 the State of California approaches James Stringfellow about turning his quarry into a toxic dump, the next year the quarry was reopened as a Class I hazardous waste site. I quickly realized that there was no end date. The Stringfellow Acid Pits are still nestled in the Jurupa mountains, the millions of gallons of industrial waste still sit in the ground, vaguely threatening the water supply and the people of Glen Avon. The  1969 closing of the site was only the beginning to a decades long battle between residents, the Stringfellows, state and local officials, and numerous corporations. 

I decided to rely heavily on primary sources for this project, not only because there isn't a lot written about Stringfellow, but because they are available. The Rivera Library holds over 500 pieces of a collection that once belonged to one of the original activists working to get Stringfellow shutdown, Ruth Kirkby. Due to ongoing and seemingly timeless Covid restrictions, these were not accessible. For a moment I considered asking everyone I know to request them so that the whole collection could be archived online but I did not have the time to distract myself with future causes. Additionally, CCAEJ has an entire community archive that I will pour through when it becomes safe to spend time alone in a basement again. The time and effort that it would have taken to make these documents useful for this project did not exist for me during this research period so there will undoubtedly be updates to the story that I am telling. The intricacies of Stringfellow  hasn't been fully examined  and most secondary work only focuses on one aspect of the story, the legal battle, the environmental fight, or the fierce advocacy work of Penny Newman.  Most don't mention the long history of the Inland Empire region and its purposeful choice as a toxic waste site or how the advocacy work  of Penny Newman has transformed the way environmental justice is viewed in the IE. The work of Brinda Sarathy has been particularly valuable in understanding both the environmental and social implications of Stringfellow while Brian Craig's book has been helpful for understanding the legal facts and mayor players involved. 

Luckily for me, other people have been intrigued by Penny Newman and her work and I was able to listen to nearly 6 hours of interviews and storytelling straight from her mouth. At times, the court cases were heavily covered by the media and there were numerous articles available. Looking through YouTube videos, I found some videos documenting the the terminal cancer of a man who lived in Glen Avon and what their family experienced. The oral histories that I want to hear simply don't exist and I am hoping to change that one day. 

Though all of my arguments for this paper have been informed by the dozens of newspaper articles I've read, I am only including a few for now. Below is the works cited information for the project. 

  1.  Butler, E. and Hiroshi Fukurai. “ACID PITS AND BIRTH DEFECTS : A CASE STUDY OF THE STRINGFELLOW ACID PITS DUMP SITE ANDCONGEmTALANOMALffiS.” (2015).

  2. Gottlieb, Robert. Forcing the Spring : the Transformation of the American Environmental Movement Washington, D.C: Island Press, 1993.

  3.   Block, Jane, Liz. Cunnison, Melba Dunlap, Beverly Wingate. Maloof, Sue Nash, Penny Newman, and Ruth Anderson. Wilson. Inlandia Institute Making Waves in Inlandia Oral History Project Collection., 2011.

  4. Craig, Brian. Stringfellow Acid Pits: the Toxic and Legal Legacy. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2020.

  5. Ejolt. “Stringfellow Acid Pits, USA: EJAtlas.” Environmental Justice Atlas. Accessed March 8, 2021. https://ejatlas.org/conflict/stringfellow-toxic-waste-dump.

  6. Newman, Penny. “Interview of Penny Newman.” UCLA Library | Center for Oral History Research. University of California Los Angeles , 2008. https://oralhistory.library.ucla.edu/catalog/21198-zz00096mh6.

  7. Southern California Public Radio, KPCC, ed. “A 'Hysterical Housewife' Reflects on 39 Years of Environmental Activism.” Southern California Public Radio, March 20, 2018. https://www.scpr.org/news/2017/10/05/76315/a-hysterical-housewife-reflects-on-39-years-of-env/.

  8. Stokley, Sandra, and Special To The Press-Enterprise. “Glen Avon Seeks to Recapture Its Family-Friendly Vibe.” Press Enterprise. Press Enterprise, April 5, 2011. https://www.pe.com/2011/04/05/glen-avon-seeks-to-recapture-its-family-friendly-vibe/

  9. Ingerswol, Marshall. “A California Tale of EPA Intrigue and Angry Residents.” The Christian Science Monitor. The Christian Science Monitor, March 3, 1983. https://www.csmonitor.com/1983/0303/030364.html. 

  10. Brodie, Janet Farrell, Vivien Hamilton, and Brinda Sarathy. Inevitably Toxic Historical Perspectives on Contamination, Exposure, and Expertise Pittsburgh, Pa: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2018.





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