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P#4—Interview Transcript—Youth—Mena

Introduction
Thank you for taking part in this study. Before we begin, I want to express my ap-
preciation for your consent to participate in this research.

The purpose of this study is to explore the lived experiences of St. Croix residents
between the ages of 18 and 24, like yourself, who reside in or attend school or
university near the South Shore Industrial Zone and experienced the impacts of
aerial oil emissions from the Limetree Bay Refinery between February and May of
2021. The study aims to learn about how your formal or informal methods of
learning about what has taken place in the local environment have prepared you
for living in a community that has been affected by industrial pollution.

We will begin with some general questions and then talk about your experiences
living near the oil refinery.

PI: Before we get started, are there any questions that you would like to ask me?

0:02
P#3: Not really. I don’t have any questions other than the fact of when would you
have a presentation on this.

P1: I am looking towards a May graduation date so some time—you saw earlier
where I said research is going done now through the Spring—I think I will defend-
ing my defense some time between March—before May. Sometime before May.

0:24
P#3: Okay

0:26
PI: So the presentation will be my dissertation defense. You want a invitation?

P#3: (inaudible)
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0:30
P#3: Yes, please.

0:32
PI: I’ll do that. (laughter)

0:32
Introduction and Warm-Up
PI 1: Alright. So, can you briefly tell me about yourself, your interests, and any-
thing special you would like me to know about you?

0:42
P#3: Well I’m 19 years old. I graduated from St. Croix Central High School in 2022.
I was home schooled after the pandemic but ended up having to go to the school
itself several times. And it was not very satisfied with St. Croix Central High School
at all.

PI: You say they were not satisfied?

1:04
P#3: I’m not satisfied. I was not and I’m still not. My school is going to crap.
(Laughter) I’m an English major with a concentration in creative writing. I have
been writing for over 12 years. Hobbies include reading, writing, and sleeping.
Who doesn’t love sleep? And you can basically call me like an aspiring artist, I
guess.

1:33
PI: An aspiring artist? (PI repeats for clarity)

P#3: Yes.

1:35
PI: Beautiful. I want to go back to what you said about your school going to crap.
We have a number of questions that we are going to get into, but I can’t let that
sit. I want you to tell me about your school going to crap.

1:47
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P#3: In the case of during 2021 there was a lot of times where the school would
open and close.

PI: Open and close? (PI repeats for clarity)

1:54
P#3: Open and close. And many of the times that it opened and closed , you
would go to the school and you would get sick. So, you’d be like—you come—you
go to school fine and then you come home and you feel sick. And you can’t—
sometimes the sickness would affect how you would operate in school as well as
at home. For me, as someone who has had asthma years before and then has re-
covered—slowly but surely—and environmental factors affect me. I would come
home with sore a throat, runny nose, eyes puffing. And then at sometimes I’d be
so sick that—I usually don’t—I have migraines I still have migraines from during
that period. And it got especially worse during that time.

PI 2: Okay. So you’ve already answered—you told me how you were…

PI 3: Where on St. Croix do you live currently?

2:45
P#3: Currently I live in Machuchal (Matthew Charles).

PI: That’s a community I hear a lot about and definitely was told it was in direct
line…

P#3: Yes it is.

2:55
PI 4: ..of the refinery’s emissions. In which community did you live between Feb-
ruary 2021 and May 2021. Was it that same community?

3:04
P#3: No. I lived previously in Anna’s Hope Villas. Right there by Human Services.
And, yeah—commuting to school, and then coming home, commuting to school,
coming home—eh, took a toll.
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3:18
PI: It took a toll?

P#3: Especially when you have to PASS Limetree.

PI: When you go—because that community was directly exposed to aerial emis-
sions, so when you go directly pass Limetree what was that like?

3:31
P#3: For me, like in the mornings especially, when I used to come home—or go to
school really—my mother would usually try short cut her way into doing that. So
we usually pass Limetree. And in passing Limetree we would always be smelling
this foul smell. And, its like, for me—at the time I used to eat a lot. I eat now, but
back then, I used to eat a lot. But in the mornings I used to come pass and I used
to want to—and when my mother used to drop me to school I used to go to the
bathroom and I used to vomit. Because that smell would linger in my nasal pas-
sages and it used to be, like, “It stinks.” Enough that I want to vomit. And I used to
sometimes vomit. Sometimes I used to just be sick all day like I don’t want to eat.
But then I’d eat in the afternoon and then I vomit—going back home and I want
to vomit again.

4:18
PI: So, it’s changed your eating habits completely and impacted you…

P#3: Yes, it did. But at the same time—I try not—after a while you get used to it
as you pass. It’s just that, for me, for a while, I used to wanted to vomit.

(PI skipped to Question #8)

PI 5: Was that community exposed to aerial oil emissions released by the Lime-
tree Bay Refinery? (Same/Different from #3)
P#3:
PI 6: Was your home exposed to oil emissions from the oil refinery during that pe-
riod?
P#3:
PI 7: Between February 2021 and May 2021, were you personally exposed to air-
borne oil emissions from the refinery?
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4:32
PI 8: So you talk about getting used to it. So take me back. Tell me about when
you first experienced the effects of oil refinery emissions.

P#3: I was just going—I don’t really exactly remember the first time. I just remem-
ber coming pass the refinery one morning and it was—it used to stink at times.
Yes. But then like that morning, I don’t remember what it was. My eyes were
tearing. My Mom asked, “Who cut the cheese in the back?” (Laughter).

PI: Yeah.

4:59
P#3: Cause my brother farts a lot, so you know, he cuts some cheese. But my
brother—we all looked in the back and we were like, Nobody didn’t cut no
cheese, Mama.” That’s got to be the refinery. And the thing is, all of us had eaten
breakfast. So my Mom pulled to the side of the road, stood by the refinery and all
of us had to pile out. ALL of us were barfing. Cause—like—and then my step-
mother, who has asthma, thank God she was not with us at that point in time.

PI: You said, “Thank God, what?’

5:29
P#3: She was not with us at that point in time. Because it was particularly bad.
That all of us ended up—we parked the car, we vomited, we got back in the car.
My mother asked me, “Are you sure you could go to school?. I don’t even think I
want to go to work right now?” We all kind of looked green. For black people to
look green, that’s an accomplishment. And she’s like this, “I don’t even want to
send you to school now."

5:59
PI: “I don’t even want to send you to school now?” (PI repeats for clarity)

P#3: That’s what she tell me. And I’m like, “Ma, it don’t make no sense to do that.
One, exam is coming up. I ain’t about to try to fail. Two, your child done have
enough report them due. Three, how am I going to call these people and let them
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know and I done miss three days for the week? No, thank you. Let’s go.” Gone
school. At school they said they had a gas leak. And you know Central. Central,
they don’t do nothing finished. Nothing.
6:26
PI:Central doesn’t do anything what?

6:28
P#3: Doesn’t do anything good for their students and then when the gas leak hap-
pened, it’s like it just piling worse and worse. So it’s like—I come home, everyone
done vomit this morning, and me—vomiting again in the afternoon? I done felt
prone. So, I was in the class closest to the road and sitting in that classroom—all—
I started feeling dizzy. I started feeling my eyes are scratchy. My throat started
swelling. And my teacher realized that I wasn’t participating cause I felt uncom-
fortable. So my teacher sent me to the Nurse office. The nurse wasn’t there—I
came back. Now my teacher took me outside, and she do a—my teacher has
some medical experience. You know, she done check. She tell me, “You allergic to
anything?” “Soursop, that’s it.” “You had soursop?” “No.” “You’re getting an aller-
gic reaction.” “You got Benadryl then, Teach?” “Here.”

PI: What was that one? Say. What did she ask you?

7:26
P#3: “Did you eat any Soursop?” And she’s—“Nope.” (Mena’s response to the
teacher). “You’re in allergic reaction”. (Teacher’s words). “You got any Benadryl?”
(Mena asks the teacher)

PI: Benadryl. She asks if you have Benadryl? (PI clarifies)

7:37
P#3: And I was like—That’s what I asked her. And she says, “Here.” Because she
always—that teacher has everything. She literally has enough allergy medicine to
last a year. I love her to death, but that’s creepy. But, yes, I took some Benadryl. It
slightened the effects enough that I could function. But when I got home, my
mother took one look at me and said, “You’re not going to school tomorrow if
you don’t look better by the morning. I piled on so many fluids that night. I really
did. And, I said, the tonic was—the tonic—oh my God. And then the home reme-
dies that went down my throat—many of them very, very bitter. At the time—at
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the time I didn't really appreciate it. Now that I'm older, I do appreciate it but, the
taste was not worth it. Getting better enough to go to school well, was. Next
morning it happened again. This time we did not vomit when we went passed it.
My Mom made sure to drop the younger ones first. And then we wanted to get
dropped ourselves. And then the headache started. A really, really bad headache
in the middle of class. Like, my teacher was just talking and then all of a sudden
just this one migraine behind the left side of my face. And then it moved to the
right side and stayed there, right behind my eyes. And, it's like, I'm trying to con-
centrate and the smell in the afternoon made it worse. I didn’t—by the time I
went home I just wanted to sleep. Did my homework and then I went to bed. And
it, basically, half the night before that migraine left me. So from mid day that day
to halfway into the night I did not have any comfort. And the only reason I even
got rid of the migraine was because I took—stole—one of my mothers ibuprofen.

9:32
PI: You took one of your mothers ibuprofen? (PI repeats to clarify)

P#3: and then chucked that back and then I could study. Finally, it kicked in and I
managed to knock myself out. Woke up late the next morning because of it. So, I
remember that to say that that’s was the very first time I say that I would remem-
ber being affected.

PI: Alright. Were other people in your school affected—in your classroom that day
when, for instance, that day when you were having a hard time and your teacher
took you outside to ask you what is it cause she recognized you were having an al-
lergic re…

P#3: It seemed like an allergic reaction.

PI: Yes. Was anybody—did anybody in your school—whether that day or..

P#3: Well, yes. Multiple of—many of us actually had similar symptoms or some-
thing—sometimes severe. Some of them, even at one point broke out in hives.
And, technically speaking, I'm not supposed to say this, but one of then ended up
in the bathroom almost coughing blood because, you know, their medical condi-
tion is very bad, so they’re kind of like—they cough up anything that is impure in
their system very quickly. And they kept on inhaling. So one day they came to
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school with a mask on and that was that. They stopped coughing after a while,
but they kept on wearing—taking pills—from a good long time.

10:54
PI: What about other people in your family?
10:56
P#3: My my mother who regularly used to drive us, she worked right there in
Woodsen (Elementary School) so it was, like, at that time she was affected, but
you know Woodsen had it’s problems, so she was breaking out in hives because
of the mold. And then, on top of that she kept on getting uncomfortable. All of us
were getting headaches in the house. So everyone was cranky. Nobody was really
getting peace of mind. Ibuprofen went and ran out a good to three times a
month.

11:23
PI: The ibuprofen ran out two or three times a month? (PI repeats to clarify)

P#3: Uh um (Affirms). It's like your there, and it doesn't want to stop—the
headache. And I still get headaches now. It's like a permanent thing. Like it just
randomly hits me. Just like this, I never used to get headaches like this before.
And then the headache doesn't want to stop until the next day. So it’s…

11:51
PI: Takes up a lot of your time?

P#3: Energy. Not even time. It's energy. Sometimes I can push it back. I have prob-
lems with my eyesight. So every time—-ever since the headaches—I've been hav-
ing problems seeing. I can’t—my eyes can't adjust fast anymore. And sight—to
say far away—is impossible.

12:18
PI: you kind of answered this question, but I’m going to ask, before the February
2021 to May, where are you personally exposed to airborne emissions from the
refinery or did you have the symptoms ever before those emissions?

12:42
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P#3: I would say, because I always passed the refinery, I would say yes. Because,
maybe it was less prominent that I didn't even notice, but I'm always passing the
refinery up to this day, so yeah.

13:02
PI: Okay. Was your home exposed to the refinery emissions did your home—did
you have problems?

13:13
P#3: Well, where we live directly, I don't think that we were affected, but going—
cause all of us always passed the refinery to do something or another—running
errands—sometimes we actually stop by the refinery and take pictures because,
for me, I am an artist. I have a thing. Color is everything. Sunsets by the refinery
are nice. So sometimes we would sit there and we would take pictures. And so, I'd
say we—pretty much all of us have been affected by it. My stepmother who has
asthma and lives in our household—she has had two asthma attacks. Thank God
none of them were fatal. Thank God for her pump. Like, just sitting there and she
suddenly goes on an attack. And after that, she never used to come with us.

PI: She never used to come into..

P#3: We never used to take her with us anymore near the refinery, but

13:58
PI: She tries to stay home?

P#3: Sorta, kinda. She stays home, but then at the same time she’d drive us and
then she’d pick us up (?).

PI: She try’s to stay indoors and away from the refinery?

P#3: She's trying to stay away from the refinery but, indoors. God knows that
woman will never stay indoors. She's a tomboy.

PI: (Laughter) Okay. That’s good.

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P#3: That's not good. I'm not a jock. I am the nerd. I’m the nerd. I’m the one that
stays inside, reads the book. Be like this—I twiddle on the phone. See yah. That's
how it is. They’re the ones that go outside, fishing, everything. You know.

PI 9: Were there other times when you experienced the effects of oil refinery
emissions

Interview Question Protocol

Research Question 1: Knowledge about Local Issues of Environmental Justice

14:35
PI 1: Ok. Can you describe—we’re moving on to the section that looks at knowl-
edge and about the local issues of the refinery and environmental justice—So can
you describe what you have learned about the oil refinery and its operations?

14:55
P#3: I would say that I am not exactly fully knowledgeable of the oil refinery. I just
know that because of us having to import a huge amount of oil to refine, that's
why it's there. I just know that it was supposed to be transferred from company
to company for a long time. I also know that for sure that the oil refinery was sup-
posed to create more jobs instead of being more problems. Especially with the
fact of the matter that many of us residents were affected by the aerosols—even
before February. And many of us ended up in the hospital—with—due to lung
conditions. Personally, a few family members for me.

15: 36
PI 2: Where did you acquire this knowledge about the oil refinery and its opera-
tions?

15:40
P#3: First place a phone that from was, word-of-mouth. Second place, I read
about it. Third, I decided to do some of my own personal investigation and actu-
ally questioned people from Limetree. They weren't exactly sure themselves, so it
wasn't really exactly, for me, conducive to make any full judgment on the subject.
So, I was like, the oil refinery was there for the production of crude oil so that we
can export refined oil.
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16:14
PI 3: I’m going to break it down a little. Were you taught about the oil refinery and
its operations in your school curriculum?

P#3: No!

PI 4: Did you gain information about the oil refinery and its operations through ac-
tivities in any community clubs or organizations?

P#3: No!

PI 5: Did your family-and I’m going to break down—I have here family and friends,
but I’m going to break down family then I’m going to talk about friends. So did
you learn—did your family contribute to your understanding of the oil refinery
and its operations?

P#3: Yes.

PI: How so?

16:50
P#3: My family who was very—my family is very very outsidy--outdoorsy

PI: (Laughingly) Outsidy—outdoorsy?

P#3: They can't go a day without being outside. None of my family members can.
So for them the oil refinery was kind of like this big blotch. So, my mother would
be, like, you do realize that they are causing the thrashies (native bird) to kind of
migrate near our house, so that right now my tomatoes are getting ruined be-
cause of them, right. Or my stepmother—they are ruining my waters. I can't go
fishing. And then my aunt, who really and truly is a track person, running by the
refinery is like trying to run through smog. She was in the states. I don't really
know what smog is. So she's like—they kind of literally—bits and pieces—they
have very negative views when it comes to the impact. However, they also under-
stand the economical view. But they also said it's also detrimental because, really
and truly, it's not doing much.
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17:52
PI: It's not really doing much?

P#3: In their point of view. Because, well, how many times has Limetree nearly
gone bankrupt now? That’s all (?).

18:04
PI:Now. Did your friends contribute to your understanding of the oil refinery
and its operations?

P#3: Oh boy did they. Oh boy, did they. Many of my friends have egotistical views
of the refinery.

PI: Tell me more.

18:19
P#3: One of my friends have a mother in the refinery. And they say that their
mother is currently getting sick because of it. So they’re —they hate it—the refin-
ery. So it's like, my Mom’s there all day she wears a mask, but then she comes
home and she's still coughing. My Mom's there allll day and they still haven't
given her proper medical leave to go to to check herself in the states. So you
know, she kinda like rants. And the thing is, his mom end of getting cancer and he
blames the refinery for it. So it's like, you understand him, you feel for him, but
you cannot get involved in the heated discussion that’s supposed to come after.

19:08
PI: Tell me more. Tell me about that heated discussion and why you don't get in-
volved in it.

P#3: Because he gets—do you know how to preacher gets high and hyped—he
get like that. Only, he be bringing up statistics. And I’m like, okay, statistics are all
well and good, my love. Okay. Calm down, calm down, calm down, baby. Calm
down. Shhh,shhh, shhhh. It's Okay. it's Okay. Mommy is going to get better.
Mommy did get better! But he still hates the refinery! So it's like, just gotta wait.
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19:40
PI: Just got to wait? (PI repeats to clarify)

P#3: You got to wait it out, because if you say one word you're going to have him
going for maybe to an hour; two. You're lucky if you get out in an hour. The long-
est he has ever been on a rant is 10. And that's continuing from the day before
because we’re there in school. So he's not going to rant completely. Unless (?)

PI: Is this something you feel you can talk about in school with teachers?

P#3: Oh. All of us used to be kind of—like—giving opinions if we ever get a chance
to, but to say that we sat there and talked about it with our teachers. Our teach-
ers had very egotistically views about it. I'll say that. Many of them very negative.
Some of them—umm—not many of them are positive. The one or two positive is
that it gives us jobs, but don’t even give the jobs to the locals.

20:33
PI 6: Are you familiar with the concept of environmental justice and if so, what
does it mean to you?

P#2: I’m not familiar with it totally. The only thing I know is that every time that
there is an environmental issue—every time it is completely investigated then be-
fore giving justice or judgement based upon the facts that are proven—pre-
sented.

PI: Say that again?

21:00
P#2: The understanding I have is that whenever there is a problem with an envi-
ronment, like for instance global warming, there’s oil spills, that sort of thing, a
complete investigation is done before the facts are being presented. So that way,
a judgement or justice can be dealt according.
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PI 7: Thank you. And how well do you understand the concept environmental jus-
tice as it specifically relates to your community?

P#3: I do not believe our community has environmental justice like that. I mean,
we barely have historical justice at this point.

PI 8: Could you talk about the first time you learned about to the environmental
concerns linked to the emissions from the refinery?

P#3: The first time I heard about it was Limetree first came out—for me. Because
my parents, grandparents and further family members were once—some of my
family members were once in Hess. So they have the concerns that Limetree is
another Hess in the sense of with the emissions. Especially since you remember at
one point Hess actually had terrible emissions that used to coat the roofs black.
And the plants used to have a shine of oil on them. They said they feared for that
happening again. That's when I first heard of it. And then it got worse since Lime-
tree continued to develop. So for me, I can't really exactly say when Limetree
opened, it’s just that when Limetree opened that's when I first had that aware-
ness. For me to say I really paid attention to it, not really until I got sick.

PI: But you had heard in your family—the historical—the history of the refinery
from back with Hess?

22:57
P#3: Yes

PI: …Cause they were employees—they were employees of Hess in your family?

P#3: Yes.

23:06
PI 9: In what formal settings did you come across information about the environ-
mental concerns related to the refinery emissions? We may have touched it a bit,
but the formal side?

23:15
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P#3: One formal setting I have had recently was with kind of like a seminar where
are they briefly touched on it. My mother took me.

PI: Who held the seminar?

P#3: I really don't know. It was my Mom’s things that she was doing—something.
I really didn't just want to go. But she took—she dragged me there because she
said, “Go make friends.”

PI: Right? Go meet friends?

23:37
P3#: Go make friends.

PI: Go make friends at this seminar that touched on the—specifically the refinery
issues?
23:42

P#3: It touched on the refinery, I'm not going to lie. They did. And it kind of got a
little heated that they had to stop. But to say, like, I remembered who was doing
it. That was my Mom event and I was there just to be bored.

PI: And they were talking generally about the environmental issues, but the refin-
ery issues specifically came into view?

24:01
P#3: They talked about the refinery’s impact on the environment. That's what
they went into. And since they was, like, saying something for some nature re-
serve thingy that my Mom wanted to do, I really wasn’t paying attention because
at the time they did not have my favorite ?flower? going in, so it was like Okay,
whatever.

Additional/Follow-up Question:
PI: You talked about your teachers views of the Refinery, what do you have to say
about your high school teachers’ awareness of the operations of the Limetree Bay
Refinery and about environmental justice?
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P#3:

24:18
PI 10: (Laughter) What about informal settings? How did you come across infor-
mation about the environmental concerns related to the refinery emissions in in-
formal settings?
24:28
P#3: That would be through word of mouth from my Mom. Well, mainly family
members (PI…family—inaudible) and a lot of very heated individuals outside of
the family. Especially, people who got laid off from Limetree.

24:44
PI 11: So, again, can you talk about any sources or platforms you rely on—you rely
on to stay informed about environmental justice issues affecting your commu-
nity?

24:57
P#3: I would say I have not had any set platform because all platforms I have
found either have some form of misinformation or the information doesn't ex-
actly come from—isn't exactly clear.

PI: Isn’t exactly clear? (PI repeats for clarity)

25:10
P#3: Yes.

Research Question 2: Development of Agency

25:12
PI 1: Okay. I’m going to move on to talking about development of agency and
what that is about is feeling empowered, or becoming empowered, okay? So,
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have your experiences living near the refinery led you to take any actions or initia-
tives in your community? If so, could you describe them for me?

25:31
P#3: Does making my sister deal with the garden and kinda, like, flock away birds
count?

PI: (Laughter) I will count it.

P#3: Because ever since the refinery came about it's like groceries were not ex-
actly feeling fresh. I don't know why. It's like, if we didn't grow it it didn't feel
fresh.

PI: So when you went out to buy fresh produce, per se, it no longer seemed
fresh?

25:59
P#3: I don't know. It was like, because we went to certain market—my Mom’s
idea—it was like, we’re their—we are like—the produce just don't taste the same.
Especially if we would go by the refinery and we start eating. Like, we're passing
the refinery and I have to put something in my mouth, it’s just that I just bought
this sandwich with freshly made vegetables—made right in front of me—picked
from the vine—made in front of me, and it tastes like this. It was like, it affected
how we ate. And we’re foodie people. So it's like, we would end up throwing it in
the garbage. It’s gotta be something that they doing wrong. But we get the same
results with food that we grow.

PI: With food that you grow? (PI repeats for clarity)

26:48
P#3: Um Hm. It’s like. So it ain’t the people. It’s something else. That’s what we
kinda think. But to say I associate it totally with the refinery, not really.

27:05
PI 2: Do you feel your understanding of the—again—local environmental justice
concerns have influenced your sense of empowerment or your ability to create
change?
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27:16
P#3: I would say yes as I am from a legacy of culture bearers as well as environ-
mental addicts. Because, for me, the refinery—anything that deals with the refin-
ery—really and truly I kind of ignore. Or if it's a bad thing I take it in. If it's a good
thing I take it in, but then at the end, it’s like, it's just another Hess.

PI: So you ignore…

27:40
P#3: I really and truly don't like the refinery. For me in particular that same land
that the refinery is on, literally. St. Croix can be redeveloped instead of industrial
land why can't be something—a little like—something like St. Thomas. We could
actually have a water park here. If not a water park, an actual park where people
—and have better tourist reviews.

28:05
PI 3: Can you give examples of situations where your knowledge about environ-
mental justice has empowered you to voice your concerns or take action?

28:15
P#3: I would say when we were debating with our teacher. The teacher was say-
ing “Limetree gives us all these options and all these things”. And all of us went to
town on her.

PI: All of us went to… (PI repeats for clarity)

28:25
P#3: All of us students. We couldn't help it. We couldn't stop our tongue.

PI: Did you just say, “went to town on her?

P#3: Yes!

PI: That what I thought I heard. (Laughter)

 19 of 31

P#3: We went to town on her. Cause, like, all of us had our own point of view.
And, she said, like, “Their doing great.” And we all were, like, “They’re, they're
sucking us dry. Like, all of us had a family member going to the hospital because
of some thing. Because of Limetree. Especially me. I've been to the hospital six
times.

PI: Six times? (PI repeats for clarity)

28:55
P#3: Six different times because something with Limetree. I get—my eyes them
didn't want to stop watering. My eyes were red. Gone hospital. Okay. That’s a bill.
I couldn't talk properly. Throat burn. Things—my mother did everything. Mother
take me to the hospital. They fix it. That's a bill.

PI:What was that?

P#3: They fixed the— what was going on with my throat. Cause something was
lining it and I didn’t understand what it was. Like there’s something in the air.
They like—and I was doing this, “Something in the air. Something in the air.” And
then it happen to the entire house. So I was like…

PI: Everybody in the household was impacted the same way?

29:33
P#3: So it’s like, (makes a swooning sound as if to say, yeah, yeah, yeah). It’s got
to be some fumes. That’s all we pass. It has to be something going through the
air. That’s what we got to say. In Limetree air. Okay. And we’re always there by
Limetree, some way, some how.
For us, really and truly, as we continued to kind of go on with her, it was like, she
couldn’t get it. “They’re giving us jobs. They’re giving hope. They’re giving us an
opportunity. They’re bringing in income”. And I took on the income section of
that argument. And, like, “the income they bring is less than 10% of what they
originally said the capital that they were supposed to be bring in to the island to-
tally. I mean, the amount of times that they have had nearly called bankrupt and
had to borrow from the government counts on a hand—full hand by now. You
know that right?” I mean, sure they get jobs, but locals aren’t getting the jobs. By
the time they—locals still had—we still have roughly around a greater increase in
 20 of 31

unemployment, actually. And, you know that kind of triggered her with the in-
come section. But then before she could get into income, we went into health.
One girl is like, “I got six cousins. All six of them ended up in the hospital for some-
thing with their lungs. And you know what was in their lungs? They had black
things in their lungs. Like, they coughed up something black. And she’s like,
“That’s because of the refinery”. Because when they took the test, impurities that
you’d only find at the refinery. She went there. She went personal. Another per-
son went and then attacked the worker—the workers’ situation. Workers come
home and they’re getting more sick than when they were in Hess. So, all of us
took her on. And it kind of got bad that they called the Monitors (school security
for students) on us. But, hey. Cause she call all the Monitors. And she said, “Get
them out of my class”.

31:43
PI: The teacher called the monitors, which is the school security…

P#3: Cause…“Get out the class. Let them go in the hall—go in the thing—and let
them cool off their head. They talking too much.” That’s what she tell them. So
they asked us what we do. We tell she ‘bout she self. It’s not a lie. We tell she
‘bout herself. “What do you mean tell we she…”(as asked by the Monitor). Lime-
tree killing us. “But we can’t lie. The truth there”. One Monitor said and then
walked away. “I ain’t doing this. You can’t lie ‘bout that.” He agreed.

PI: The Monitor said, “You can’t lie about that.” and walked away?

32:17
P#3: Yes! It’s like, they even agreeing with us. And you say anything—when you—
and another one—“She was say, Limetree is giving us hope? What bullshit she
talking?” Even the Monitors telling you that—start telling you. And she’s like, “I
have a job in Limetree now. I’m quitting”. Two months later, she ain’t out of a job.
She got to come back government. She can’t… (slaps the table)

PI: She left her teaching job…

32:42
P#3: To go LIMETREE!
 21 of 31

PI: …to go to Limetree…

32:44
P#3: …and two months later, she out of job. So this what we do. Hear what all of
us did when we see her again. “We told you so. You said something ‘bout me. I
told you ‘bout the income part, right? They laid you off, right? Oh. I thought so. I
thought so. ? How’s your health?” And I know one boy. Poor thing. He was like,
the way the two of them went on in the health part. It was just—priceless. At the
time I didn’t have a camera. If I had it, I’d have been recording it from the time it
start. I’d been like, “We told her not to do that thing.” It’s like, “Are our teachers
totally stupid? Cause like, at that time how many layoffs were they having out in
Limetree in total? How much of a percent of the workforce was gone? And she
didn’t listen. So, layoff. She had a problem in the workforce and she get layoff.
She now working fast food.

33:57
PI: She back in the school system?

P#3: No. She’s doing fast food. She ain’t working back government.

PI: (mistaking “fast food” for “another school”) She went to another school? A pri-
vate school?

P#3: No.…

PI: Oh, FAST FOOD?!

P#3: FAST FOOD! (Laughs long and loudly)

PI: Okay, okay…fast food… gotcha.

Research Question 3: Facilitation of Activism

34:17
PI 1: I want to talk—we going from agency to activism. Have you participated in
any form of activism related to environmental justice, either individually or collec-
tively? And if you did, could you provide some details?
 22 of 31

34:36
P#3: I was in JROTC and we usually did beach clean up. We did Dorshe beach and
we did also—some one in Christiansted. I don’t remember which beach it was.
Yeah, Dorshe Beach and Rainbow Beach. We used to do regular clean ups very se-
mester. No every—yeah, every marking period. So, you know, that’s for us.

PI: And that was connected to your school…

P#3: Yeah.

34:57
PI: …the school. Your class would go and do clean— beach clean-ups?

P#3:Yeah. JROTC, technically speaking is independent but still part of the school
work-along.

35:04
PI 2:Yes. And how do you think your awareness or an awareness of the local envi-
ronmental justice issues has played a role in motivating activism with you or
within your age group in your community?

35:20
P#3: I’d say that activism within my age group right now is low due to the fact that
most of what is being promoted isn’t exactly, totally intriguing or is it informing
the younger generation that is in my generation. Due to this fact, I’m saying that
we don’t exactly have full awareness nor are we completely, totally inclined to
want to know.

35:49
PI: Tell me about “inclined to want to know”.

36:52
P#3: I’d say this because most of the people that are giving these presentations,
giving us information and most of the sites that you go on they don’t really, ex-
actly give you information that you totally understand unless you are literally
there sitting with a research paper in your hand and you can understand a huge
 23 of 31

amount of words like “coliosynthesis” within, like, less than five seconds. And as
someone who is from an educator family, this is not hard for me to understand.
And I read research papers. I am bored by them, but I read them, right. But some-
one who—on average doesn’t even pick up books to say like, okay I’m going to
entertain myself with a book and would rather pick up their phone and you have
visuals. For example—well, do I have it, yeah. (Opens up phone) The VIATRAN
(public bus company) schedule. This is something that is regularly used, right.
They go for that. But it’s straight forward—to the point.

PI: It’s straight forward and to the point, ah ha? (PI repeats to clarify)

P#3: Yeah. For someone to say, okay, you’re going to go research about—re-
search paper about the environmental impact on the mangroves—which by the
way I’ve read. You ain’t going to have no child want to sit there through that en-
tire paper that is over 100 pages long, literally full of words that they make—that
are literally, like going put me to sleep. This is like nap time for me. That’s putting
a toddler to sleep. No one’s going to do that. So, really and truly, make it more
engaging. That’s all I can say. If you make it more engaging, if you make it more
intriguing for us to understand, then you actually might get more output. Espe-
cially since, if you make it so there’s an incentive. Let’s say, for instance, you do
this, but then you can get a training for this. So that way you can get to this point.
? Me? You tell me all I have to do is go to this seminar, be able to past this test,
do this for a certain point in time, and I can get some creds? No probs.

37:58
PI: (Whispers) That makes sense.

P#3: I mean like, for me, that is not a problem.

PI: I’am hearing you say to interest you and people in your age group in activism it
has to be more understandable not technical jargon and and complexed—you
know—literature; more engaging, more interesting, and…

38:21
P#3: Try…
 24 of 31

PI: …and some benefit.

P#3: Yes. But, I'm going to say it like this. If you're going to try to do environmen-
tal issue, why don't you try putting it in some thing that most people don't really
see it in? For instance, a large majority of companies are now intriguing every-
body through video, right? And that video’s drawing you in. Let's take a page out
of that book, shall we? Okay. Why not take out the technical jargon, make it fun
and interesting. I mean, a large majority of us now watch anime, so why not turn
it into an anime? You don't have to put all the technical jargon. You can make a a
character that’s, kind of like, more relatable. Sort of stupidish—sorta, kinda. And
like, make it seem like the battle against the world is fun. The battle against all of
that is fun. You know? I mean, like, I could imagine that happening. And you
might get a bunch of toddlers fighting for you. Helping you. And wanting to con-
tinue that. I mean, my sister—she watches “Cells At Work” and all of a sudden she
is telling me what the dendritic cell is.

PI: She watches, “Cells…

39:31
P#3: “Cells At Work”

PI: “Cells At Work”

P#3: And she told me what a dendritic cell was.

PI: How old is your sister?

P#3: She was—at the time, what—nine? And she told me what a dendritic cell
was. I’m, like, okay. You know what that is? She was, like, “Yep!” And she went
down the line. I was, like, but your not that—your the baby—your grade level?
That’s not in your curriculum yet. (Going back and forth between a child-like, ani-
mated tone of voice and her regular voice) Oh, I watch “Cells At Work”. Did you
know a white blood cell eats all the viruses inside the body? Ummm? What—but
what does he do before it eats its cells. “Oh. It kills it. Okay. How many types
white blood cells are they. According to the show…. So if that's what it takes to
engage my little sister—who, by the way, likes to not listen to nobody. I mean,
 25 of 31

even the stupidest of people catch on after a show. I mean, it's not that hard. At
least not in my point of view.

40:32
PI 3: I agree. Let’s—I’m going to read this question out and we’re going to see if
we’ve touched it or if we can still beef up what you’ve said, which is on point.
Can you share stories of instances where your understanding of environmental
justice has contributed to or been influenced by community activism?

41:02
P#3: One story would be—Oh! Turtle watch. My family went on turtle watch by
ourselves. Without, technically speaking, telling our grandma who was in charge
of it. We got in a lot of trouble for it. But, we went on turtle watch. And in the
midst of it we watched one beach that currently we found out there were turtles
on there.

41:29
PI: So, which beach? You said something—I missed something you said.

41:35
P#3: We went to a beach…

PI: You went to a beach…ah ha?

P#3: I didn't know—I don't know the name of the beach. My mother is the one
that took us there to get involved. And, we went there. In the midst of us going
there we found sludge, sludge, more sludge. And there was three turtles on that
beach coming through it. My Mom had a frenzy. She said, “Why…” And she went
off. So, she kind of like, carefully—she kept tonight on the turtles. And she called
the people, and the people came. And they came for the turtles. The turtles gave
—they let the turtles bury their eggs, but then after the buried the eggs, they got
the turtles. And, oh my gosh, my Mom was going off trying to figure out who
poured this oil. Because it wasn’t—say from a ship. It was like someone poured it
on the water.

42:32
 26 of 31

PI: It wasn't related to the refinery?

P#3: I believe it was related to the refinery. Because it's not a I regularly gone to
beach. So it’s like, for me personally, that oil compound, as they said, don't really
get in regular product, but you find in something—sludge, they call it—from the
refinery. So, it's like, my Mom is like, “This is why we can’t let nobody that from
ah outside come yah.” That's what she kept saying. “They’re always ruining my
beach.” My mother is someone, who can’t go without her beach. She went—from
then on, she gone to the beach, they cleaning—and then they clean the thing.
And we watched the turtles again, later. They went into the ocean. But my
mother was still livid. We got in trouble with our grandma for going on turtle
watch without her. (Raises the volume of her voice) Cause she was in charge of
turtle watch.

43:25
PI: So she had wanted to be there. She would have wanted to be there with you?

P#3: Oh boy. She would have been worse than my mother if she had seen that.
She’s a—she has an old turtle shell in her house. Polished and everything . She
loves turtles. And we went without her and we saw that and she’s like, “And you
didn’t call me? We woulda have the Governor down yah.” (Repeats in rapid suc-
cession) No, no, no, no, no. Grandma, grandma, grandma, grandma, grandma,
grandma.” This is me right now trying to calm down the situation because every-
body is now on a blue flame now. Not even—purple—purple flame. It’s purple
flame mode right now so I’m trying to turn it back down to a nice little red—turn
red, turn red, turn, turn, turn red.

44:14
PI: So where did that go? After your mother found out—you all went on the turtle
watch without Grandma…

P#3: Grandma came…

PI:But your mother found the turtles—you all found the turtles. Your grand-
mother found out…

P#3: And my grandmother…

 27 of 31

PI: …and we were talking about activism

44:25
P#3: So what they did is they had it researched—the oil sludge researchED and is
said that it can’t be found—it said—in commercial houses. You’ll find it in a refin-
ery. So they were, kinda like, they wanted to suit the refinery. (Drops her voice to
a child-like voice) And this me doing this: “Mother, Grandmother. We’re going to
be civil; civilization, civilization. We’re in civilization. We’re not in barbaric times.
PLEASE? Because suiting a refinery for the sludge that you just found there. Do
you know long that takes? And this is me now trying to be academically correct,
because now I’m here talking sense verses knowing the result! Cause the result is
that you would not get results from a refinery that has money—billions of dollars.
What do we have? A few thousands. If that.

PI: You said a few houses?

45:16
P#3: A few thousands. If that. Right. A few hundreds. I’m going to be real techni-
cal here. A few hundreds. And even if we did a GoFundMe, you wouldn’t see re-
sults for ten years. We’re thinking something that’s going to happen NOW, right.
So let’s just put—we reported the beach. They—and the turtles came back. So
they kept the beach safe. So it’s like, okay. No body can come there. There’s cam-
eras there. They—you can’t do nothing now. That calmed them down for a while.
I hope they don’t back and do anything else because I’m frightened. Cause to
calm the two beasts that are my family members, at that time, took a lot of re-
search. It took a lot of research to understand lawyers. I actually read a blog jour-
nal to understand how long it would take to figure out an environmental issue. So
that triggered me to say—I became aware due to the fact that Limetree did that—
I guess. So, it’s like , I don’t like Limetree. Because it made me do more work than
I had to.

46:32
PI: ??Thank you for that??

Reflection and Wrap-Up

 28 of 31

PI 1: Okay. We’re going to wrap it up. I have a few more questions. From your ex-
perience, what are the most pressing environmental justice issues that you and
your peers face in your communities today?

46:53
P#3: Well, global warming is everywhere. That’s a given. Cause right now the heat
level is—I mean—many of us have passed out because of the heat alone. For
now, in the community, I’d say, it would be the rain. The rainfall and the rain con-
tent. Rain is pure—to a point. But the more impurities you put in the soil and into
the plants, the more they release into the atmosphere. And then the atmosphere
then releases it back into the system. It’s constantly evolving. We have a lot of
trace metals inside of our rain as well as a lot of oil. You find a lot of lead around
here these days. So, for us, I’d say, really and truly, it would be from the man-
groves, the lead tracing and the toxicity of certain—well, the sea weed.

47:47
PI: The toxicity of the sea weed? (PI repeats for clarity)

PI 2: From your experience, what role has your education played in preparing you
and your peers to address environmental justice challenges on the island?

48:02
P#3: Formal education-wise, I’d say it’s poor. The school really doesn’t exactly
give us a full, well-rounded education unless you’re in the biology section or envi-
ronmental science. They don’t really prepare you for such activism roles unless
you’re doing something about inequality, justice. That sort of stuff. Morality
based activism. But to say environmental, not really. On the family front for me,
at least, my family is activism gung ho. Let’s ahead and suit the government, type
vibes. That’s for me, personally.

48:43
PI 3: Is there anything else you would like to share about your experiences or in-
sights regarding your community’s environmental justice concerns?

P#3: In the sense of me saying that—as a community we are not exactly fully
aware of what’s going on here. I mean, we have land but we don’t know how we
are taking care of it. I mean, right now, if we to actually have a forest fire, we are
 29 of 31

doomed. We don’t have no set plans. Nor do we have a counter measure to say if
something was to happen to the soil. Cause our soils, technically speaking, is no
good. It has toxicity. It’s toxic. And someone who plants—my family plants a lot—
we don’t have a counter measure here on the island for anyone. Not—the farm-
ers do. They know what they’re doing. But an average gardener, a regular citizen,
they do not know what they’re doing. And they don’t realize that—that’s actually
going to start affecting because of the increase that’s actually occurring as we
speak. As well as with the air quality. Our air quality is one of the best in the
world, but we’re letting the refinery destroy that. So, as someone who knows this,
I have a resentment towards the refinery for that. I can’t say that the refinery is
helping us. It’s just decreasing our world value in view. As well as personally and
morality—in morale. For me, I want to get off this island now, because, really and
truly, there’s no opportunity and the refinery is literally sucking us dry.

50:25
PI 4: That leads right into my next questions. Have your experiences living near
the refinery influenced your career plans or other future plans?

P#3: Big time!

PI: Tell me.

50:36
P#3: Because of the refinery—?every week?—I used to think that something is
wrong with me growing up. As my school life progressed.

PI: As your school life progressed you thought something was wrong with you?

P#3: Yes.

PI: Okay.

P#3: So I thought maybe a change of pace would do it. So, it’s like after I graduate,
I’m going to leave this island. Maybe somethings going to be different. But as I re-
alized slowly that certain things were coming about and the refinery was just
sucking us dry, my goal in life was to leave island, get some cash, because every-
body knows you can’t do nothing without cash. And, kinda like, set up something
 30 of 31

for our island that is actually more beneficial. Like, our refinery needs to GO.
Good bye. Yes. See you later. Maybe in the next—400 years. And we can put
something else there. Honestly, many refineries in the states have been repur-
posed. Don’t you agree? Haunted houses. Theme parks. I mean, the list can go on.
And, technically speaking, St. Croix has the space. First Crucian theme—amuse-
ment park. I don’t know. Let’s see what the refinery can do that I can’t do better.

PI: Umm

51:51
P#3: And, my family wants to run a restaurant so that’s just going to add profit.
So. Who knows?

52:02
PI:I would like to thank you for taking (laughter) the time to engage with me in
this interview. What you have shared is extremely important to this study, and
your willingness to share your personal experience is greatly appreciated.

Please, know that as the Principal Researcher, I will make every effort to prevent
anyone who is not a part of the research or my research team from knowing that
you provided this information or what that information is. And I want to add here,
I will not use your recorded voice in any way at all as per your request.

P#3: Thank you very much.

All that you have said will be held in the strictest of confidence.

PI: (Laughter) I will contact you to schedule a follow-up this. What I’m going to do
is transcribe what you’ve said today. And I want you to go over it to make sure I
have transcribed it correctly and what you’ve said and what I’ve written is exactly
what you want to have said. Right?

Are there any questions that you would like to ask at this time? Is there anything
more that you would like to know about this study and how the information you
have shared will be used?
53:13
P#3: All I look for is you take it to your presentation and—you know—that’s it.
 31 of 31

PI: Thank you. Thank you so, so much.

P#3: Thank you very much for having me. (Inaudible words here)