Streaming Video

Fenceline : a company town divided

Grünberg, Slawomir

2003

Overview

Polluting industries have a history of locating in low-income, minority communities, impacting health and leaving residents to fight for environmental justice. Fenceline follows the struggle of an African-American neighborhood known as the Diamond Community to be relocated because of the pollution from the Royal Dutch/Shell Oil Company. When Shell bought out Diamond in the 1940s to build a petrochemical industry, the company said nothing about potential health hazards, instead promising high paying jobs with generous benefits. Sixty years later, Norco, a company town which includes Diamond, is divided. Residents of the Diamond Community say they receive no economic benefits, yet inherit health problems ranging from asthma to cancer. The majority of white residents work for Shell and view the company as a benevolent employer. They reject the health problems of their neighbors as the result of poor lifestyle choices. Meanwhile, Shell depicts itself as a \"good neighbor,\" carefully monitoring chemical emissions and offering employment to the community. This film helped to resolve the conflict in Norco; in June 2002, the publicity caused by the impending national broadcast of Fenceline on PBS prompted Shell to offer to buy out all four streets of the Diamond Community.

• Publisher: Filmakers Library
• Subject: Nonfiction films / Pollution / Shell Oil Company