A 7-Stop Tour from San Diego to Sacramento Galvanizing CA’s
Climate Justice Movement to End Oil Drilling
SACRAMENTO, CA — Climate advocates, lawmakers and community members living fenceline to toxic oil operations across the state will come together for a Big Oil Resistance Tour to grow the grassroots movement calling for a future beyond fossil fuels. The tour is being organized by the Last Chance Alliance, a coalition of more than 900 environmental, health, justice, faith, labor, community, parent, Indigenous rights and consumer organizations from California and around the world. Events will feature dynamic panel discussions, musical performances and opportunities for community climate activism. The seven stops along the tour include:
- 4/28: Los Angeles, Holman United Methodist Church (7:00 – 9:00 PM)
- 4/29: Ventura, Topa Topa Brewing Co. (Colt Street) (1:00 – 2:30 PM)
- 4/30: Santa Barbara, Alameda Park Earth Day Festival (10:00 – 2:00 PM)
- 5/6: San Diego, El Centro Cultural de la Raza (3:00 – 5:00 PM)
- 5/7: Kern County, David Head Center (5:00 – 7:00 PM)
- 5/12: Oakland, Bloc15 (7:00 – 9:00 PM)
- 5/13: Sacramento, The Colonial Theatre (6:00 – 8:00 PM)
Since beginning his second term, Governor Newsom has worked to hold California’s oil companies accountable for raking in massive profits while polluting the state and threatening both public health and safety. His pointed comments about Big Oil profits and his proposal to enact a price gouging penalty have dominated headlines and highlighted the shroud of secrecy in which oil refiners operate in the state. Yet the governor has fallen short of halting permits for fossil fuel projects, the years-long demand of climate justice advocates and Californians most impacted by drilling pollution. While his commitment to protect frontline communities from health threats of neighborhood oil drilling helped pass Senate Bill 1137 last fall, the industry’s $20 million dollar referendum campaign has forced a stay of the new law and the vital protections it provides. With this landmark environmental justice law on hold, the state continues to issue neighborhood oil drilling permits within 3,200 feet of sensitive sites like homes, schools, parks and healthcare facilities. Since the start of the year state oil regulator CalGEM has issued hundreds of permits within the health protective zone that would have been created by SB 1137.
The Big Oil Resistance Tour will educate Californians about the dangers that the state’s continued industrial oil operations pose to community health and our climate. The program will offer tangible ways to plug into local and statewide campaigns. Speakers include:
- Tefere Gebre, current Chief Program Officer at Greenpeace USA, longtime Southern California labor leader and recent Executive VP at the AFL-CIO.
- Bill McKibben, author, activist, and co-founder of 350.org and Third Act.
- Nalleli Cobo, cancer survivor and recent Goldman Prize winner for her work fighting neighborhood oil extraction in LA.
- Local climate justice leaders active in each region.
The event series will kick off in Los Angeles on April 28, where Assemblymember Isaac Bryan (D-Los Angeles) will share an inside look on his work to pass SB 1137 and his recent proposal to reform state elections law by making it more difficult for campaigns to mislead voters when circulating petitions to qualify a statewide referendum.
To attend any stops along the Big Oil Resistance Tour or arrange interviews please contact: aimee@lastchancealliance.org
