Nalleli Cobo

Co-Founder, South L.A. Youth Leadership Coalition

"Environmental racism is taking place now in 2019 in the United States. People’s health is being affected by the oil industry placing wells in low-income, Spanish-speaking, immigrant, black, and brown communities. It is time to stand up to Big Oil and take back our health, safety, environment, and ultimately our lives. Living with windows closed, constantly exposed to toxic emissions is no way to live."

Biography

At age 9, Nalleli Cobo engaged in community activism for the first time. Her journey began when she noticed she was often ill. Her frequent headaches, stomach pains, nosebleeds, and body spasms worsened to asthma and heart palpitations. Soon after, Cobo learned others in her community were also having similar problems. She lived in an apartment complex in South L.A. across from AllenCo’s oil drilling operations. Terrible odors would take over her community every day. After calling regulatory agencies, she noticed the smells from the oil well only getting worse, and she and her neighbors took action. Creating a grassroots campaign called People Not Pozos (People not Wells), Cobo uplifted her community’s voice by fighting AllenCo, who has been poisoning her neighborhood for years and making them temporarily close in November 2013. Her community continues to fight to close this oil well permanently.

Cobo is a co-founder of the South Los Angeles Youth Leadership Coalition. This group, along with Communities for a Better Environment Youth from Wilmington, sued the city of Los Angeles for Environmental Racism and violation of CEQA. Cobo is also a member of STAND LA (Stand Together Against Neighborhood Drilling Los Angeles), which works tirelessly to establish a 2,500-foot buffer between oil extraction, homes, and sensitive land. In her free time, Cobo attends classes at Ballet Folklorico de Los Angeles, a professional Mexican folk dance group.