Community and Environmental Groups Condemn New Oil and Gas Drilling in Kern County

Bakersfield, CA —

Kern County’s Board of Supervisors voted today to approve changes to a zoning ordinance that fast-tracks the approval process for tens of thousands new oil and gas drilling permit applications county-wide. These revisions curtail site-specific environmental review and end any further public participation at the county level, including notice to and input from the community members who live and work near future drilling sites.

This is the county’s third attempt to update its oil and gas permitting ordinance after multiple rulings by California courts found the county’s previous attempts violated the law.

“For too long, Kern County’s elected officials have catered to the oil and gas industry at the expense of public health and the environment. State officials have the final say on new drilling, however, and I expect they will follow the law and honestly disclose impacts and institute effective mitigation before allowing new wells to go forward,” said Colin O’Brien, an attorney at Earthjustice.

Kern County accounts for an overwhelming majority of all oil and gas production in California and has some of the most polluted air in the country. Research shows that there is a direct link between polluted air and a number of serious health harms, including asthma, cancer, heart disease, high-risk pregnancies, and premature death. The American Lung Association identifies Kern County as having the most polluted air in the United States for both short and long-term particle pollution.

The county’s own environmental review admits that the ordinance will not only further degrade some of the worst air quality in the nation, it will harm public health and the environment in numerous other ways. These include reducing available groundwater supplies, increasing disruptive noise, diminishing scenic views, harming wildlife, including endangered species and their habitat, and destroying valuable farmland. Low-income communities and communities of color will carry the heaviest burdens from the Board of Supervisors’ decision.

In a recent letter, over 90 public interest organizations challenged the county’s leadership to better protect the health and safety of local communities, improve the county’s long-term economic well-being, and promote a more sustainable future for the county’s residents and all Californians — rather than looking for ways to accelerate oil and gas development and shield it from meaningful environmental review and accountability for impacts.

The following quotations from local community groups, environmental, and public interest organizations condemn Kern County’s adoption of this oil and gas permitting ordinance:

“For too long, our communities in Kern County, especially in places like my hometown of Shafter, have been treated as sacrifice zones for the oil and gas industry. This ordinance is yet another example of our local government choosing to protect corporate profits over the health and safety of our families. It allows thousands of new oil wells to be fast-tracked in our communities, impacting our air quality and our water supply. We’re already living with the impacts: cancer, asthma, and polluted air, and now they want to double down on this harm. We deserve clean air, safe neighborhoods, and leaders who fight for our right to live with dignity. Our future depends on a just transition away from fossil fuels, not more drilling in our backyards,” said Anabel Marquez, Community Advocate, Shafter, California.

“Elected officials are once again prioritizing polluters with deep pockets over the health and safety of residents,” said Cesar Aguirre, organizer with the Central California Environmental Justice Network, a member of the VISIÓN Coalition, which advocates to end neighborhood oil drilling across California. “This ordinance rubber stamps a reckless system that has long treated frontline communities, largely Black and Brown, as insignificant places unworthy of protection. But our communities matter. VISIÓN will continue to fight for a just future where every Californian has the right to a clean and healthy environment safe from the harms of oil and gas extraction.”

“Californians are still recovering from the Los Angeles fires supercharged by climate change, but Kern County officials want to pour more fuel on the flames,” said Hollin Kretzmann, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute. “It’s appalling that Kern County is greenlighting tens of thousands of new oil and gas wells right as we brace for another summer of extreme heat and storms. More fossil fuels will only make future climate disasters worse in Kern County and everywhere else.”

“Our air, water and soil have suffered years of abuse and pollution from oil and gas drilling. Instead of fixing the problem, Kern’s leaders are taking away even more of the guardrails that keep our neighborhoods safe,” said Lori Pesante, Director of Sierra Club’s Kern-Kaweah Chapter. “Sierra Club and our partners will continue to fight for the right of all Kern residents to not be poisoned in our own backyards.”

“The oil industry is trying to get their last dime out of Kern county before going out of business. The clean energy transition is underway, and rather than looking for ways to support the local economy as Big Oil withers away, the county supervisors continue to allow irreparable pollution and damage to local communities and the environment for the profit of a few. If county supervisors cared about the wellbeing of their community, they would make a path to a sustainable economic model that wouldn’t poison the people and leave them without clean air and water; they would lean into the energy transition and support many new jobs and economic opportunities,” said Ilonka Zlatar, Organizer with Oil and Gas Action Network. “Oil is running out. The money will dry up. And what is left behind is orphaned wells, pollution, illness, and death.”

“We stand in solidarity with our fellow Californians in Kern County who have — for far too long — lived with an alarming and devastating amount of fossil fuel pollution,” said Nicole Ghio, California Director for Food & Water Watch. “Californians across the state are dealing with the impacts of fossil-fuel driven climate change and our leaders must step up and prioritize the health and safety of our communities over the profits of Big Oil companies. Fast-tracking thousands of new oil wells is not the answer.”