Tri-County Watchdogs, Frasier Park

“We need to stand up and fight”

In December 1998, Sylvia Swan and her husband bought a house in Frasier Park, the foothill community where they had lived since 1992. Soon after moving in, Sylvia’s oldest son began having hydrocephalitic seizures. Sylvia and her husband found themselves coughing, their eyes burning. When they talked to their neighbors, they discovered that many people were suffering from the same symptoms. It was only then that they discovered that their new home was less than 600 feet from a diesel-burning facility that was one of Frasier Park’s biggest polluters.

Outraged, Sylvia wanted to know why the community had not been informed of this health hazard in its midst. Even more importantly, she wanted to know why state and county regulators allowed the facility to burn over 4 million gallons of diesel annually in a residential neighborhood. This quest for information and accountability led her to the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment, the Central California Environmental Justice Network, and ultimately landed her on the CRPE Delano advisory board.

Sylvia is now an active member of the Tri-County Watchdogs, a grassroots advocacy group working to educate and empower Valley residents to protect their communities from environmental hazards. Current campaigns include protecting community water rights, reducing diesel emissions, and increasing public awareness of issues related to environmental health.

“It comes down to getting the information out to the community,” said Sylvia. “It’s about learning how the law works so we can make these government agencies responsive to the people and let these companies know that they can’t just buy their way out of everything.”