Air polluting industries face increased scrutiny in East Oakland
In the 10 years that Zinia Gangopadhyay has taught at Acorn Woodland Elementary in East Oakland, she says she’s noticed a “shocking” number of people around her getting sick, from cancer to breathing problems.
“We’ve heard of parents and families in the community, seemingly healthy parents who at very young ages have had strokes, and high numbers of students with inhalers and asthma,” said Gangopadhyay, who currently teaches fifth grade.
The elementary school, which shares its campus with a preschool and the 81st Avenue public library branch, is less than half a mile from the AB&I Foundry, which manufactures cast iron pipes. For years, staff at Acorn Woodland have suspected that AB&I—which melts down scrap metal and emits dangerous chemicals into the air through its smokestacks—and other industrial polluters in the area are causing the unusual health problems, and members of the school community have joined neighbors and environmental justice