The Nation: Even when she was a kid, Melissa Cervantes knew something was wrong with the air in Wilmington, a neighborhood next to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach where she has lived most of her life. The streets here are verdant with mango, guava and avocado trees. But a brownish haze hangs above the houses. I kind of figured the refinery was making people sick, she says. But when youre just a little kid, you dont put it together as a puzzle.
Less than a mile away are the ConocoPhillips and...