This free, online archive is a project started by Dr. JoAnna Poblete, Professor of History at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California. Since 2018, Dr. Poblete has been researching the health experiences of people on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands during the Hess Oil/HOVENSA period from the 1960s to 2012. After finding that historic health data from this era was difficult to obtain, and in the wake of the information gathered by the “Building Environmental Justice on STX” project at Bennington College that was developed by Dr. David Bond of Bennington College in collaboration with Crucian Heritage and Nature Tourism (CHANT), VI Good Food Coalition, and St. Croix Environmental Association (SEA) in 2021, Dr. Poblete launched a year-long online survey to gather information about health experiences on St. Croix during the Hess Oil/HOVENSA period.
This first survey was available from May 26, 2022 to May 5, 2023. During a share back session on June 13, 2023, community members encouraged Dr. Poblete to relaunch the survey to try and garner more responses. The second survey was available from August 28, 2023 to February 7, 2024. Any additional data gathered will be updated bi-annually. If an organization and/or group of volunteers would like to share or lead in the stewardship of this repository, please contact Dr. Poblete at joanna.poblete@cgu.edu or call 909-607-7308.
Info on the first survey
- Run time: May 26, 2022 to May 5, 2023
- 102 total survey respondents: 87 or 95 who currently lived on St. Croix.
- Respondents were in residence on St. Croix from one year to their whole lives (over 70 years).
- 82% of respondents were from the west side of the island, 10% from mid-island, and 8% from the east side
- 32% respondents were over the age of 65, 16% were 56-64 years old, 32% were 41-55 years old, 16% were 30-40 years old
- Respondents were 75% women and 25% men
- 94% of respondents predominately spoke English in their household, 2.5% spoke Spanish, and 3.5% spoke another language
- 75% of respondents did not work at a heavy industry plant, 25% did
Info on the second survey
- Run time: August 28, 2023 to February 7, 2024
- 36 total survey responses: 4 filled out the previous survey and 4 were disqualified because they were under the age of 18
- Respondents were in residence on St. Croix from 14 to 65 years
- 10 respondents listed where they lived: 2 lived in on the westside of the island, 4 lived both in the west and mid-island, and 4 lived mid-island
- 12 respondents were age 65 or older, 2 were 56-64 years old, 2 were 30-40 years old and 1 was 18-29 years old
- 10 respondents identified as women and 2 as men
- 10 respondents predominately spoke English in their household, 2 spoke Spanish
- 8 respondents did not work at a heavy industry plant, 3 did
*Please note, respondents were only required to answer the age question for both surveys. All other questions were optional responses