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As far as I know, pumping crude doesn't produce the same pollution and nearby collateral damage that processing chemicals does.

Source: Grew up in Texas surrounded by mostly harmless pump jacks and then moved to Louisiana in Cancer Alley.




Just the wells themselves are prone to leaking lots of toxic gases, and a lot of the modern extraction procedures have additional risks too.

https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2020-03-05/deserte...

Modern epidemiology also enables really accurate tracking of the increase in asthma and other health problems near wells:

https://www.usnews.com/news/cities/articles/2021-06-02/urban...


We have some refineries right up against homes in Wilmington and the bad parts of Long Beach.

In either case, the fact that zoning laws aren't stopping this but are taken as seriously as laws of physics when it comes to apartments shows that they're mostly a scam


Until there's an oil spill, fracking discharge, earthquake (from fracking), or refinery explosion like in Houston.

Houston has both petrochem refining and chemical plants with people living in "sacrifice zones".




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