In the Heart of Our Community 

Despite being an unincorporated community in Los Angeles County, Los Nietos has been inhabited by Native People for thousands of years. My family, like many others, spends the days playing outside, climbing trees, waving down the paletero, walking to school, and stopping by the library on the way home. We’re living our lives, raising our families, and connecting with our neighbors—all of the usual things you’d expect to see in a small, close-knit community. But tucked away, just off the main road, lies a bright white building, with a neatly manicured lawn and a sign that reads “Phibro-Tech Inc.” 

A quick Google search would indicate that this facility is an essential service contributing to a sustainable future. In reality, Phibro-Tech Inc. has been emitting pollutants into Los Nietos’ community for decades. This toxic cocktail has impacted our air, water supply, land, and people. What you won’t find on their FAQ page is that this facility is a toxic polluter, situated just 540 feet from neighbors and less than a mile from four schools, a senior center, a library, and places of worship. 

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated reality. What the community of Los Nietos is experiencing is not exclusive to them; rather, it is indicative of a deeper, systemic issue that has intentionally situated communities of color across various metros, large and small, in close proximity to polluters like Phibro-Tech. This is an environmental injustice that requires shifting power to communities to ensure that solutions align with their unique needs. For those of us in Los Nietos, shifting power means working alongside one another, building people power, and using our collective voices to enact tangible change. 

Community members joined forces to launch Neighbors Against Phibro-Tech in the early 70s, with the goal of protecting community health and advocating for stronger regulatory action by agencies like the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC). Mothers came together to collect data around the neighborhood on the numerous chronic illnesses people were suffering from. Over the years, DTSC has had every opportunity to deny the permits of these serial polluters. Their mission statement reads, “The mission of the Department of Toxic Substances Control is to protect California’s people, communities, and environment from toxic substances, enhance economic vitality by restoring contaminated land, and compel manufacturers to make safer consumer products.” For over thirty years, Phibro-Tech Inc. has operated under an expired permit and has repeatedly been cited as a facility with the most violations in California.

Today, Neighbors Against Phibro-Tech continues its work as a small but mighty group of individuals dedicated to fighting for the health, safety, and well-being of its community. In recent years, representation from Earthjustice has played a critical role in advancing the legal momentum of this work. It’s also been powerful to collaborate and work within coalitions. Less than ten miles away, the Clean Air Coalition is fighting a similar fight against the last remaining lead battery smelter west of the Rocky Mountains, called Quemetco. Both polluters have requested permit renewals to continue and/or expand their operations, and both have been granted by DTSC.

Using the facilitation tools gained from the National Association of Climate Resilience Planners’ Facilitator’s Certification Training Program, we gathered to share our stories—sharing what’s truly in the heart of our communities: hard-working families who, over generations, have fought to protect community health. We connected over our shared vision with neighboring communities and took collective action against polluters that are poisoning our people. We heard that our community wants healing and justice for our neighbors and for those who work at the facilities. We used the phrase, “imagine living 540 feet from...” to hear of visions for what we imagine this place could become in the future;  a place where we can gather, grow food, prepare meals, and find joy and vision for what’s next. 

So what is next? Engaging with DTSC is exhausting, with endless hoops to jump through and unanswered questions leading to more questions. Much of our efforts can be spent reacting to DTSC’s latest move, or lack thereof, like failing to give a nitric acid spill proper attention and care. It feels as though we are doing their job of “overseeing and regulating” for them. 

In 2025, we took time to continue our coalition visioning sessions, nurture the relationships we’ve been building intergenerationally, and look back as we look forward. One priority was to uncover answers to our communities’ health questions, beginning with our youth-led air quality monitoring project. In partnership with Norwalk Unides, youth researchers conducted local air quality monitoring and reported their findings at a community event. This is a starting point that has allowed us to better understand the health impacts we are facing and guide our future efforts. It has been really liberating to be able to refer to our own data and determine what area of research we focus on.

This year, we have identified the need to work more closely with the neighboring sites being impacted, beyond the residential neighbors. Some examples include meeting with religious leaders from the local church, school boards, educators from the local schools, and County officials overseeing the local library and senior center. For many, the issue can feel “too politicized” or “too touchy” a subject to get involved in. Over the years, Neighbors Against Phibro-Tech has worked to present the issue as one that impacts the health, safety, and well-being of everyone in the surrounding area, at all hours of the day, emphasizing that it is especially harmful to vulnerable populations such as children and seniors. One step we are taking is launching an educational campaign that offers basic information on health impacts related to exposure to pollutants, offers resources for soil and air quality testing and invites participants to add their voice to our envisioned future. These relationships have been nurtured over many years, and as we continue to build these connections, grow our network and coalition, we will have the opportunity to more closely meet the varying needs of these groups and grow our support. 

We know this fight will take time. Together, in community, we find strength, support, and power to continue. Because we know that we deserve to live, work, and play on healthy soil, breathe clean air, and drink safe water. Community-driven planning means we honor those who came before us and those who will come after us. It means we can open our window to let in a fresh breeze without the fear of it impacting our health. It means we decide what lies in the heart of our community.

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