Researcher ORCID Identifier

0009-0003-9563-9981

Graduation Year

2026

Document Type

Open Access Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Politics and International Relations

Reader 1

Professor Kim

Reader 2

Professor Neiman

Rights Information

2026 Gillian G Maynard

Abstract

This thesis examines soil contamination in Los Angeles as a pervasive yet underexamined environmental justice issue, rooted in the region’s history of industrialization, racialized land-use policy, and regulatory failure. It argues that soil operates as both a long-term repository and an active pathway of toxic exposure, embedding environmental risk directly within residential landscapes. Through an analysis of key contamination sources, including legacy lead pollution, urban oil extraction, wildfire-related toxins, and industrial sites such as the Santa Susana Field Laboratory and the Exide battery recycling facility, this study demonstrates how contaminants persist across generations, often long after their original sources have been removed.

Further contending that existing regulatory frameworks at the federal, state, and local levels are structurally ill-equipped to address soil contamination. Governance is fragmented across agencies, largely reactive in practice, and dependent on crisis-driven intervention rather than proactive monitoring or prevention. As a result, contamination is frequently left undetected or unremediated, with the burden of exposure falling disproportionately on low-income communities and communities of color. These patterns reflect the enduring legacy of redlining and discriminatory zoning, which have systematically concentrated environmental hazards in marginalized neighborhoods.

Drawing on the concept of slow violence, the analysis situates soil contamination as a form of cumulative, intergenerational harm that unfolds gradually and often escapes public visibility. Its diffuse and delayed impacts complicate both recognition and response, allowing inequities to persist and deepen over time. In response, the thesis proposes a set of policy reforms centered on preventative regulation, including the establishment of centralized soil governance, the expansion of liability frameworks beyond traditional polluter-pays models, and the development of sustained public funding mechanisms for testing and remediation. Addressing soil contamination, it argues, requires reorienting environmental governance toward long-term residential health, increased transparency, and a more equitable distribution of environmental risk.

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