This is a guest post by Rosie Parra. She is a Wilmington resident and a recent graduate of CSULB. Residents of Wilmington were invited by Alicia Rivera of CBE to participate in the “Building a Green Economy Lobby Day.” The event was sponsored by the Ella Baker Center.

Tuesday started off early for me. Waking up at 3 a.m. is not my typical idea of fun, but the day’s activities were too important to focus on such trivialities. It was an incredible honor to fly to Sacramento and represent Wilmington. I was excited to have the opportunity to discuss with legislators two measures about which I am passionate. As a Wilmington resident, I cannot help but be invested in the implementation of AB 32/AB 1405. For a quick breakdown, AB 32 would reduce carbon emissions and greenhouses gases 25% in 10 years, back to the levels of the 1990s. AB 1405 would take funds generated by AB 32 and invest those funds in communities which are affected the most by all of the pollution.

Wilmington is one of the most deeply impacted cities when it comes to pollution. Wilmington is surrounded by: 3 refineries (not including those in Carson, LB), 2 freeways, 2 ports, 1 highway, and 1 rail yard. It is therefore in Wilmington’s best interest for AB 32 to be implemented and for AB 1405 to be passed into law.

In Sacramento, our Wilmington group was separated into seven teams, along with people from all over Northern and Southern California. Fortunately for me, I could not have asked for a better group of people. I was able to share my story with this large group of individuals who also had amazingly poignant stories of their own. We all got together and divvied up Senators/Staff, hoping that our messages were interesting and convincing enough to gain support for the measures we discussed. We weren’t able to meet with any senators that day, but we were able to pass on our stories and requests to staffers. We worked hard to put a face to the issues that our communities are experiencing.

We were able to speak to Senator Fran Pavley’s representatives – she authored AB 32 – and we thanked her staff for their efforts to clean up California’s environment. My team member Cory’s story really touched Pavley’s staff member Adrienne Alvord. I feel that it was the most touching moment of the afternoon: He grew up with a twin brother who he said was on the straight and narrow path, while he was always the one who fooled around. Then came a day when his twin brother was killed. This event prompted Cory to turn his life around in order to accomplish what his twin was never able to do. He felt that SB 675 would give disadvantaged youth a greater purpose as well as skills applicable to a future career.

These are the types of messages we set out to ensure legislators heard. I shared stories about growing up in Wilmington and noticing a worsening in the health of those around me as well as myself. I was not a very sick child, but have found that my immune system has certainly suffered from living less than a mile away from Tesoro. My niece has had breathing problems her whole life, and has never once sounded cleared of congestion. Talking to Wilmington residents has also revealed that more children are being born with asthma too, and all of these cases can be linked back to the pollution being let off in our city.

I am most grateful for the opportunity lobby day provided me in sharing the stories of Wilmington residents with legislators and making it known that our city is ready to stand up to the polluting giants around us. We will not be ignored any longer. We didn’t meet with many senators in opposition to the bills we were trying to advocate. Ron Calderon’s staffer Adam Gray expressed to us that although Calderon co-authored AB 32, he has some concerns about the job loss that will happen when the law is implemented; he gave us some advice about dealing with Prop 23 which I was sure to mention to my fellow residents. We have to go out into the community and get the word out. Wilmington residents have to know that the CA Jobs Initiative is really the Dirty Energy prop. Refineries are not trying to save Wilmington residents’ jobs, they are trying to save their profit margins. I know that I’m going to do all that I can to fight this proposition and I hope that Wilmington, and all of California, will vote no on Prop 23.