Look Who it Was Random video

A Home Surrendered

907 views · Published 10 September 2014 · 4:29 · Indexed 8 November 2026

Channel: NRDC · 2014 · Film & Animation

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Walt and Marilee Desatoff were driven out of their family home in Shafter, which had once belonged to Marilee’s grandmother, after Vintage Petroleum moved into the neighborhood. The company transformed the rose field across the street into an industrial waste land of wells and wastewater pits, and spilled oil onto the street outside their house. The noise from flaring made it impossible for them to sleep, and they worried about the impact to their already dirty air. 

They couldn’t believe the company isn’t required to disclose the chemicals being used near their drinking water supply, and they fear the impact contaminated water could have on crops in such a big agriculture region. Marilee says she never wanted to leave because “to leave the house was to leave the family,” but it got to a point where they couldn’t deal with the pain anymore. 

Kern County is home to about 80 percent of the state’s oil drilling and more than 95 percent of the fracking, and a stark reminder of how the industrial process can change residents’ way of life. Local pushes for a ban or moratorium are in their early stages at the moment, and a countywide environmental impact review is currently underway that could result in increased safeguards against fracking for communities. The outcome of the Kern County environmental impact review process may be an indicator of how the state’s parallel review process could look.

To learn more, visit http://www.nrdc.org/communitydefense.

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