reduce evaporation, as well as natural contamination. it's estimated that they'll shave more than a billion litres of water every year. you can keep up to date with all the news on the website. there it is aljazeera.com. on "america tonight", doubts about rebuilding afghanistan. >> reporter: how much are you getting from u.s.a. d. stopped. >> reporter: 10 years, billions spent. what did the u.s. effort buy? also tonight - hiding in plain sight. behind tinsel town's glittering facade is a major environmental threat brewing. >> the bed room windows - they have no notification that toxic

chemicals are pumped under their home next door. >> michael oku investigates the dangers behind the walls. good evening thanks for joining us, i'm adam may sitting in for joie chen. as clean is an increasing threat, there's a push for cities and states in america to go green. the second-largest city, los angeles, would like to be the greenest of them all. "america tonight" found big questions about how it's regulating massive oil fields. some residents say those oil fields are making them sick. who owns many of them. "america tonight"s okanagan went there to find out, and the answer may surprise you. >> this is the entertainment capital of the world. look closely, and you'll see a whole other kind of production going on. los angeles has one of the largest concentrations of

petroleum in the world. and pumping oil is part of the backdrop of living in l.a. sometimes the drilling is behind the scenes. no office workers in this building. it's actually disguising an oil grid. and so is this one, down the street. many of the more than 3,000 oil wells are hiding in plain sight. like this building on a busy street in south l.a. >> it's remarkable. when you come here, you get the sense that whoever is running the activity is camouflaging the presence, you would not know that oil is distracted, except for the fact that every once into a while you get a nauseous risk of something in the air. all of this is happening in an apart. complex.

>> reporter: this 16-year-old lives in one of those units. neighbour. >> they are secretive. a lot of people don't know they are here, they know there's funny smells, but not where it's coming from. and then on the doors "can cause birth detects", you wonder what is there. >> reporter: aside from a few signs, it's impossible to figure out this is home. a birds eye view tells the story, this is one of 17 oil sites in the city of los angeles. dangerously close to schools and homes. according to a study. many are in low income neighbourhoods. "america tonight" visited a few of them. a mile from mercy. >> it's where we met watchdog richard parks. >> you can see how close the residents are to the site.

we are literally feet apart. and so on this side of the wall, there'll be workers and head to toe protective gear standing behind red danger tape while residents here, in the bedroom windows, where they have no notification that any toxic chemicals are pumped under their home. here, the view of kitchen window with several barrels. do all the sites have the same standards in place. >> absolutely not so the drilling sites were outside the beverly hills oil field. they are closed. protections there. they have not been afforded to the hill site. there's not monitoring here. >> we found the same thing a few blocks away.

at first residents had no idea there was drilling going on behind the walls, all they knew, it seemed everyone was getting nose bleeds and headaches, including this 15-year-old. we met her on the roof of the apartment building. >> what were you going through? >> i was going through a stuff. there were doctor appointments, hospital. that. >> i was really healthy. this came out of nowhere. >> reporter: despite 250 complaints, many relevant to agencies, the site was open, until four e.p.a. inspectors fell ill, experiencing headaches during an inspection. the e.p.a. hit them well numerous violations, including toxic leaks. it voluntarily shut in 2013.

you might be surprised to learn who owns the land at the site, as well as at the one next to in bedroom - the catholic arch diocese of los angeles, all the more surprising given how outspoken pope francis has been about climate change. a spokeswoman confirmed the church gets oil royalties, and said the church can't unilar itty get out of the cheese. -- out of the lease. >> this girl sent a video to the value. >> i wish you could be here hand. >> i think it's inconceivable that the pope could affirm the arch diocese continued profiting from a low income community in south l.a. this is wrong. it needs to stop.

>> the company is negotiating with the city to reopen the alan company site soon. that is where the story takes another turn. it appears the site, and nearly all the others in l.a. have not been subjected to an environmental impact report in nearly 30 years. >> the city of los angeles has never done any environmental review. even less than a full environmental impact report. for any project at any site in the stiff of los angeles that i have been able to find. michael is a history professor and a local resident. he spent hundreds of hours looking into how the city is regulating oil fields. >> the failure to do environmental reviews is part of a larger pattern of the city as a hole. the planning department. other agencies, the council, the mayor, and the city

administrative officer, being asleep at the switch. >> "america tonight" also combed through files and databases, and we made a trip to city hall to look for answers, nobody could tell us how many active drill sites there are, where they are, or if the city had done an environmental impact report on them. what we have learnt - the city has given exceptions to oil companies who wanted to drill new wells, old wells were adding significantly new equipment. l.a. is not following its own environmental laws, and the city leaders know it >> the stevie brown people, men and women have been advised of this repeatedly. >> and then there's there:. >> should there be an oil tsar in this city, given the fact that you have hundreds of active wells in los angeles? >> there's a position, actually, and it's been vacant. >> for how long? >> for decades.

>> the position is called a petroleum administrator. we talked to l.a. city council member about all of this, including district. >> the concern is given the fact that dozens got sick there a short time ago, whether or not an eir has been done, an environmental impact report. do you know if one has been done for that sit? >> i couldn't tell you that. >> we ask if oil companies have been given a pass. >> what do you make of that? >> lack of information. there's noest to support that. >> there's no evidence to support the fact that e.r.a.s are not granted on a regular basis. >> correct. there's no evidence to support rubber-stamping of any project. >> we arrived about the petroleum administrator.

>> that job has not been filled for two decades. we understand when people on the streets, people in your district say that this government, and this city council doze not have the political will to change the status quo. >> there's no evidence of that. back at the murphy site, there's a plan to install the gas burner, the same one phased out. the oil company didn't have to do an environmental review. it got an exemption. michael believes this is an embarrassment for a city that wants to be the greenness of them all. >> and yet not only in california, but here in los direction. >> michael oku violence us from los angeles. this raises questions about a lack of oversight.

has anyone figured out long-term wells? >> according to an independent nonpartisan report, the more you conduct the gas and oil operations in densely populated areas, the more you impose to a potential health risk to the population. it turns out that in los angeles, there's 1.7 million people living within a mile of the operating gas and oil wells. there's 32,000 people that live within 100 yards of the wells. that's not to mention the schools, nursing homes and facilities that br located within the zones. part of the worry here is the great unknown. what happens to you if over a long period of time you have been consistently exposed to chemicals like benzene and other hydrocarbons.

>> it's surprising considering conversational's reputation. >> since the alan company event. mentioned in the piece in which scores got sick, including federal investigators, things have changed. it's not easy, i want to get this right. it's three different sets of three different people from different dwellings, apartment, units or homes, have to file a complaint within a six month period of time about the same odour issue. it's only after those particular complaints are filed that the government agency charged with air quality management will go in and intercede on your behalf. once they confirmed the complaints, they go to the oil conversation and say you have to do something, implement changes. >> okanagan, thanks. later - lights out. the u.s. and its multibillion

investment in afghanistan. don -- g gone to waste. is the dream dead or still alive and the hospital with riots. after it failed residents hope a new facility will meet their basic needs. learn more at aljazeera.com/americatonight.

and more environmental alarms in our fast-forward - a community concerned about a pipeline running through the backyard literally. using eminent domaine big energy

is grabbing up property rights in central new york, trying to build the constitution pipeline. i travelled a few months ago to get the storey from some people most affected. >> in the hills of central new york, tensions are running high. >> we are still in america. and we really want to know the five or six guys on here. you know who they are, we don't. >> dan and laura are local home owners. the man on the right is a representative from the energy giant williams. >> i'm not trying make your life it's all fairness. i don't want an answer afterwards. >> once we have the court order, i don't have an on legation to knock on the door, it's just a nice thing we are going. >> weeks ago, part of their land. two acres next to their house was taken by eminent domain.

on it they plan to build a natural gas pipe line. this day the company began work, with some on the crew showing up unannounc unannounce the. >> we had a shotgun by someone. >> we wouldn't do that. >> reporter: this land was taken to build the constitution pipeline, it's a huge project running 120 miles through the villages, farmlands and forest of north-east pennsylvania, and central new york. it will cross 300 rivers and streams, requiring cutting down hundreds of thousands of streams. left behind will be a clear cut, in some places nearly half a football field wide. >> to build constitution, more than 100 landowners had their property taken against their will. none of them are happy well, fast-forward and plans

for the pipeline are delayed. at least for now. residents are fighting back. more than 100 people marched to the states. environmental conservation officers, trying to stop the project. a permit was expected to be issued a few days ago. the government put that permit on hold as they continued to evaluate the project. >> next, the u.s. effort to rebuild afghanistan, a billion investment, and the evidence that it's mostly gone to waste. and tomorrow on "america tonight", we continue a look at the legacy left behind by the watts riots 50 years ago. "america tonight"s joie chen examines the current findings on racial injustice decades ago, and whether anything has really changed.

[ ♪ ] more questions about american spending in afghanistan. a u.s.-gunneded power plant outside kabul could result in catastrophic failure, according to a letter released by a u.s. government watchdog agency. the 335 million projects funded by u.s. a.i.d. is severely underutilized, operating at less than 1% of its production capacity. correspondent glajennifer glasse looked at another matter, which

has residence there, left in the dark. >> ice-cream mogul is obsessed with keeping things gold. in the desert city with 100 degree summers, that is not easy. >> jamali opened the ice-cream business four years ago. the timing seemed right. the americans bit the industrial park with its own power station. the afghans needed electricity, they knew diesel was the wrong

way to go. it's expensive and never sustainable. the americans told kandahar this was a temporary solution. kandahar was the sea of taliban power. mulear omar's compound was at the base of in mountain. more than 200 americans died here since 2001. to ensure it never fell to the tal gan again, the strategy was to create jobs, and to do that you needed power. >> while it flowed freely, jamali was a success. the factory worked 24 hours, he employed 300 people producing

10,000 cartons of ice-cream a day. the company was profitable within two years. last year most americans left. with them, the money paid for kandahar's power and jamalia's dream. >> little by little the electricity got worse, and now we don't have enough... >> the diesel generators imposed on them by the americans leave businessmen in a bind. they don't have the money the americans did. when americans first came, there was a lot of money and people didn't have money. there were no expectations. money came. and the people had big expectations. now there is no money.

people still want the same standard of living. >> reporter: the afghan government tries to help by supplying drifty to the park for 8 hours a day. not enough to keep the ice rink cold and machinery running. for that he depends on his engineer. i ask him what kinds of problems he faces. power, he says, every problem we have is because of power. earlier today the production line made thousands of ice-cream cones and bars. when the electricity came on it was intermittent causing problems. these gentlemen are trying to fix it to get this working again. electricity spikes many that software malfunctions, machinery

breaks down and melts away. jamali uses his own generators to keep his business afloat. $240,000. he laid off 100 workers and cut production in half. we can only carry on as long as we came. that means 2, 3, five months. across town, at yet another diesel power plant built by the americans two years ago. the director of power is equally frustrated. she never wanted the facility, it's not running at all. the u.s. development agency no

longer gives him diesel. >> last year they delivered to us 300,000 letters sent to us. another two supplied by us. against the power. >> that's just for this plant. >> for this plant. >> how much are you getting now from u.s. aide. >> nothing. only one bunch of the fuel, and in the last year, nearly nine, 10 months ago. we burnt. we used, and didn't stop. how much did the plant cost. do you know? >> i don't know. this is from the people. yes. i don't know. >> what is worse, is even if the plant worked, it would provide eight hours of electricity a day, and the fuel to run it would

cost eight hours to charge. back at the ice-cream factory, the united states missed a golden opportunity to help afghanistan. and all he can do now is hope the afghan government can find the power so the half million in this former heartland can keep the lights on. >> translation: the americans had their own aims, and they deceived us, and escaped town with the money spent on all the generators and fuel, we could have re-built the dam device. >> reporter: the united states spent more than half a billion to bring electricity to kandahar. the project to win hearts and minds by turning on the power has filed. it left the people with a dim

view of the united states. >> that's "america tonight". tell us what you think at aljazeera.com/americatonight. you can talk to us on twitter or facebook, and be sure to come back. we'll have more

>> china sends chemical experts into tianjin to test for toxic gasses after a series of deadly explosions. hello. we have world news from al jazeera. also on the program, turkey may be facing a new election after political parties fail to form a coalition government. as japan marks 70 years since its defeat in world war ii, calls for an apology on forced labor grow louder in china. plus, a witness to history, we take a tour o