Sacramento, CA — In a devastating blow to California’s climate and public health, lawmakers on Saturday approved SB 237, a bill that paves the way for expanded oil drilling in California. In a rushed “gut and amend” process crammed into the last 72 hours of the session, lawmakers allowed for the rubber-stamping of as many as 20,000 new oil wells in Kern County without input from communities and key stakeholders — leaving the very people most impacted by pollution shut out of the process. SB 237 will allow these wells without any further environmental review, despite the fact that communities living near oil and gas facilities are already overburdened and facing disproportionate health impacts from drilling.
Hopes for a lone bright spot in the bill related to offshore drilling were dashed when final language revealed weaker components than expected, amounting to a huge giveaway to the fossil fuel industry. The bill’s offshore components are weaker than the original stand-alone bills for coastal protection in both AB 1448 and SB 542. The bill does clarify the need for Sable Offshore to obtain a Coastal Development Permit before beginning operations of its failed and spill-prone pipeline off the coast of Santa Barbara. However, environmental groups assert that this permit was always required.
Another hindrance to California’s efforts to protect communities from dangerous oil infrastructure, the legislature advanced SB 614 which creates a pathway to prematurely lift the moratorium on carbon pipelines. Alarmingly, there is no required setback to keep potentially explosive pipelines away from homes, schools, and other sensitive community sites. Carbon capture and storage, touted by the oil industry as a climate “solution” poses serious risks. Carbon capture projects boast a long history of tragic accidents, making them risky for communities and the planet. Without setbacks, communities face potential explosions, leaks, and exposure to toxic CO2 plumes.
California has long claimed the mantle of global climate leadership, but these rollbacks raise urgent questions about Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ability to withstand pressure from Big Oil. As he prepares to take the stage at New York Climate Week, where members of Last Chance Alliance will be mobilizing, Californians are calling on him to reject industry pressure and commit to protecting people, not polluters:
“California’s leaders’ stunning betrayal of our air, land, water and communities is leaving us in a far worse place than when we started the session,” said Food & Water Watch’s California Director Nicole Ghio. “Our legislators put Big Oil interests ahead of consumer protections and community safety by creating a pathway to lift California’s CO2 pipeline moratorium and advancing the Western Grid scam. And Governor Newsom’s office directly spearheaded legislation to streamline new permitting for oil and gas wells in some of the most polluted parts of the state. We expect better of our state leaders and demand they hold Big Oil accountable in January, by advancing the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act.”
“These giveaways to Big Oil will worsen pollution for Californians, especially those in Kern County, and make future disasters more frequent and severe,” said Hollin Kretzmann, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute. “It’s profoundly misguided to think that giving oil drillers free rein will bring down gas prices. This legislation will hit Californians in their wallets with the increased healthcare costs and climate damages that are the price for added drilling.”
“What these decisions say is that California leaders are willing to sacrifice entire communities to pollution if it means appeasing Big Oil,” said Woody Hastings, Phase Out Polluting Fuels Director for The Climate Center. “Handouts to fossil fuel executives will not lower the cost of living for Californians, they will only put the health of our frontline communities under attack.”
“Refinery closures are part of an energy transition. State leadership seemed wholly unprepared for the consequences of dropping demand for fuel because we don’t have a bold plan, vision, and investment to help fill the gaps in the economy during the transition. Agencies already have identified that gasoline reserves would safeguard against price spikes, yet they refuse to use their authority to implement it. Californians pay over $1 more per gallon than other states in what is called a “mystery surcharge” that can’t be explained by regulatory fees or costs, and seems to be just straight profits. Agencies have the authority to cap profits and directly reduce prices, but again, representatives refuse to use solutions that would actually work, and instead give into Big Oil demands in hopes that maybe this time they would reduce prices rather than stuff their pockets, which is what they have done time and time again,” said Ilonka Zlatar, Climate Justice Organizer, Oil and Gas Action Network.
“California is the fourth largest economy in the world, surely we can protect the health of our most vulnerable communities from the severe health harms caused by oil wells and production including increased risks of cancer, dementia, childhood developmental delays, poor birth outcomes, and asthma attacks, just to name a few. A healthier, all-electric and renewable energy economy is within reach. California should be leading the way for our communities and setting an example for the rest of the world,” said Robert M. Gould, MD, President, San Francisco Bay Physicians for Social Responsibility.
###
LCA LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We acknowledge that Sacramento is the traditional home of the Maidu, Miwok and Nisenan people. Part of our commitment to decolonizing ourselves, our language, and our organizations is a commitment to learning and better understanding the history of Indigenous Peoples of so-called California, including the history of contact, colonization and the extraction of resources from Indigenous lands which has been part of the continuation of modern colonization.
