At a meeting with community leaders on May 31, regulators disclosed that recent inspections found that 27 oil wells in the Kern County communities of Arvin and Lamont were leaking methane unchecked. 

A shocking 40% of the wells they inspected had methane leaks. Regulators confirmed with the media that 11 of those wells are still leaking and that the operators have no intention to fix them. Three of the leaking wells are within 1,000 feet of a school. 

Leaking wells are a state-wide crisis, and we need Gov. Newsom to rein in his state oil and gas regulator, CalGEM, and ensure they do their job.

California’s frontline communities have been fighting for basic health and safety protections from oil and gas operations for too long. CalGEM can and must:

• Halt all new oil drilling permits and adopt a 3,200 ft. setback to protect homes, schools, and other sensitive sites.
• Ensure the 27 leaking wells in Kern County are immediately repaired to protect communities and force oil companies to plug the tens of thousands wells across the state that present a dire economic, health and climate threat, starting with idle wells closest to communities.
• Improve and increase monitoring and inspections to detect and stop methane leaks, particularly for wells near residential neighborhoods.

Please join us and call Gov. Newsom today and urge him to ensure that regulators at CalGEM do their jobs, protect communities from the dangers posed by nearby wells, and work to phase out fossil fuels for good.

Call Gov. Newsom today at 877-845-9038

Instructions:

Call 877-845-9038 to be connected to Governor Newsom’s main line. You’ll hear some brief instructions before we connect you. Then press 1 for English or 2 for Spanish, and then press 6 to request to speak with a staffer. 

You will likely need to leave a voicemail. That’s okay, please do leave a message! We are logging how many voicemails we leave and will deliver this number to the Governor.

Suggested script:

“My name is ______, and I am a California resident from NAME OF COUNTY calling Governor Newsom to voice my outrage regarding the oil wells in Kern County communities leaking methane, some within 1000 feet of a school. I heard some oil companies are refusing to fix the leaks and I want to urge you to ensure state regulators stop the leaks immediately and plug all idle wells which pose direct threats to communities and our climate! I encourage the Governor to go further by ending ALL neighborhood drilling and ALL new fossil fuel approvals!”