End neighborhood drilling in California

In California, it’s legal for oil companies to drill right next to homes and schools in the most densely populated areas of the state. The result has left several million Californians living in the shadow of neighborhood drilling that risks their health and pollutes their communities.

The good news is that California has proposed a new common-sense protection from neighborhood oil drilling. The California Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM) is considering a proposal that would require 3,200-foot buffer zones between new oil wells and homes, schools, businesses, and health care facilities throughout the state — a simple but critical step to protect Californians from the oil industry’s pollution. Tell Governor Newsom and CalGEM that you support this new regulation to protect us from harmful neighborhood oil drilling! It is vital that CalGEM also apply these regulations to existing wells that will otherwise continue to pollute communities.

5.4 million Californians live near drilling sites — many of them in low-income neighborhoods or communities of color. Proximity to oil extraction has been linked to a range of health problems, especially for pregnant women and babies. Recent scientific research shows neighborhood drilling is linked to higher rates of preterm births and low infant birth weights, which increases rates of infant mortality and respiratory diseases. Neighborhood drilling is also linked to heart and lung problems.

Setbacks won’t negate the need to phase out fossil fuels entirely — we will continue that work with vigor, but we cannot continue to allow the oil industry to poison Californians while we clean up our transportation pollution and transform California’s electricity grid. Even in a state that saw the sun blotted out by climate change-fueled wildfire smoke, the oil industry’s grip on our politics remains strong enough to weaken new legislation and policies that undermine the industry’s power and profit potential. We need to gather our collective strength. Tell Governor Newsom and CalGEM that you support their efforts to end neighborhood oil drilling!