Tri-County Watchdogs
Frazier Park

“We didn't learn the truth about the facility until my family started to get sick.”

Matt Richards is from the small community of Frazier Park, located on the border of Kern, Ventura, and Los Angeles Counties.  He started his career as an activist as a photographer for the Frazier Park Adopt-A-Creek Project.  However, his life changed drastically after his family unknowingly moved across the street from an aggregate mine and incineration facility.  As he soon found out, the facility is permitted to burn four million gallons of diesel fuel a year.  He and his family began to discover the true nature of the facility once members of his family started to get sick.  As he became involved in the fight against this facility, he found that there were many members of the community also seeking accountability for the impacts being imposed on them.

In the midst of seeking help against the mining facility, a friend suggested that he contact CRPE.  This led to his being voted onto the CRPE Advisory Board.  Since joining the Advisory Board of CRPE, he has also become a member of the Central California Environmental Justice Network, and is currently the Network’s elected Youth Representative.

Today Matt is intensely involved in environmental justice issues, particularly focusing on how they affect youth.  Not long ago, Matt was able to get a video camera through a grant program and has been doing videography and documentary work ever since.  His work focuses on documenting the people and stories of the environmental justice movement, with the goal of improving the image of the EJ movement in the eyes of the average person.  Currently he is creating a documentary on the history of the power struggle in the Central Valley, as well as a documentary on the passing of the California law SB 391, the Pesticide Drift Exposure Bill.  Matt continues to fight against the incineration and mining facilities across the street from his house.