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Breaking: Top Scientists Say California Must End Neighborhood Oil Drilling, New Fossil Fuel Permits [1]
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Date: 2023-06-12
SACRAMENTO, CA — As oil well permit approvals skyrocket in California, more than 100 scientists sent a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom today urging him to stop new and reworked oil and gas permit approvals, especially in and near neighborhoods.
In the midst of a climate and public health crisis, California regulators have approved 1,069 new, reworked and sidetracked permits in 2023 to date. More than 600 of these are within 3,200 feet of homes, schools and other sensitive sites, according to a joint press release from the Center for Biological Diversity, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, UCLA, and the Energy and Resources Group, UC Berkeley,
The 104 scientists signing the letter include original signatories Robert Bullard, Michael Mann and Peter Kalmus, and leading California scientists Aradhna Tripati, Manuel Pastor, Bhavna Shamasunder, Mijin Cha and Rebecca Hernandez.
After the scientists commended Newsom for signing a law creating a 3,200-foot health-protection buffer between oil drilling and communities, they urged him to use his existing authority to stop permitting new wells while the law is delayed by an oil industry-backed referendum.
“Gov. Newsom has the power to end the neighborhood oil drilling that is poisoning communities of color first and worst,” said Aradhna Tripati, Ph.D., a professor in the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at the University of California, Los Angeles. “We need him to act now to stop drilling near where people live, work and play to protect Californians on the frontlines of deadly fossil fuel pollution.”
The letter reveals that oil and gas wells and other fossil fuel infrastructure are concentrated in communities of color, putting residents at risk of severe health harms and undermining the state’s environmental justice goals. It comes as dozens of oil wells were found to be leaking methane in Central California — many at explosive levels, according to the letter.
Leaking wells pose a huge threat to frontline communities
At a California Geologic Energy Management (CalGEM) Methane Task Force Meeting on May 31 with the public, regulators disclosed they inspected 65 wells with 3200 ft of homes and schools in Arvin and Lamont in Kern County and found 27 wells were leaking. Regulators confirmed that 11 of those leaking wells are still leaking and haven’t been resolved. 3 of the leaking wells were within 1,000 feet of a school.
Thousands of orphan and idle wells are sitting unmonitored outside of Californian’s homes, schools, parks, and hospitals, and they leak dangerous chemicals into the air and soils that impact the health of those who live, work, and play near these sites. The wells currently leaking in Lamont were reported by CalGEM to be leaking explosive levels of methane, which is an imminent danger to public safety, and these wells are likely to be leaking dangerous volatile organic compounds into the air as well, according to environmental justice advocates.
The wells currently leaking in Arvin are the site of a well blowout that caused an evacuation of residents in 2014. Orphan and idle wells that are left unplugged and unmonitored are a ticking time bomb of health and safety risks consistently impacting communities in the Central Valley.
The letter also calls on the governor to stop issuing permits for new oil and gas extraction and infrastructure to avert climate catastrophe, in line with dire warnings from hundreds of scientists in the latest United Nations climate report and calls from the International Energy Agency. It calls on Newsom to speed an equitable, clean, renewable energy buildout.
“There’s no time for complacency when oil and gas are fueling California’s climate chaos,” said Daniel Kammen, Ph.D., Lau Distinguished Professor of Sustainability at the University of California, Berkeley and a letter signatory. “Gov. Newsom should show the world what climate leadership looks like by halting new oil and gas approvals and ramping up rooftop solar and local storage that will protect communities and the climate.”
The scientists further urge the administration to reject fossil fuel industry delay tactics like carbon capture and storage, hydrogen made from fossil fuels, and carbon offsets that perpetuate fossil fuel extraction and hinder the needed transition to renewable energy.
“Scientists are imploring Gov. Newsom to build on his climate action and protect Californians from harmful oil and gas drilling and fossil-fueled climate chaos,” said Shaye Wolf, Ph.D., climate science director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We have all the evidence we need to end the dirty fossil fuel era in California. Now’s the time for urgent action.”
Other prominent scientist signatories on the letter include Terry Root, Sandra Steingraber, Karen Holl, Kathleen McAfee, Peter Gleick, William Ripple, Anthony Ingraffea, and Lara Hansen.
Oil industry amps up its campaign to capture the regulators and media
The letter was sent at a time when the fossil fuel industry has increased its spending on lobbying California officials and has embarked on a campaign to sponsor dinners and awards ceremonies for journalists in California and the West.
The Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), the largest corporate lobbying group in California, and big oil companies exercise their influence and power through a very sophisticated public relations machine in California and the U.S.
WSPA describes itself as “non-profit trade association” that represents companies that account for the bulk of petroleum exploration, production, refining, transportation and marketing in Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. WSPA’s headquarters is located right here on L Street in Sacramento.
Since 2009 I have documented how WSPA and the oil companies wield their power in 8 major ways: through (1) lobbying; (2) campaign spending; (3) serving on and putting shills on regulatory panels; (4) creating Astroturf groups; (5) working in collaboration with media; (6) sponsoring awards ceremonies and dinners, including those for legislators and journalists; (7) contributing to non profit organizations; and (8) creating alliances with labor unions, mainly construction trades.
Today, I’ll focus on two of these methods of influence.
Lobbying: The oil and gas industry spent over $34.2 million in the 2021-22 Legislative Session lobbying against SB 1137, legislation to mandate 3200 foot buffer zones around oil and gas wells, and other bills they were opposed to: cal-access.sos.ca.gov/…
For the oil companies, this was just pocket change when you consider that combined profits of California oil refiners, including PBF Energy, Chevron, Marathon Petroleum, Valero, and Phillips 66, were $75.4 billion in 2022.
The two biggest spenders were WSPA and Chevron. WSPA spent $11.7 million in the 2021-22 session, while Chevron spent a total of $8.6 million lobbying California officials.
In the first quarter of this year, Big Oil spent $9.4 million attempting to influence the California Legislature, Governor’s Office and agencies, according to lobbying disclosures posted on the California Secretary of State’s website.
Chevron came in first with over $4.9 million spent in the first quarter, while the WSPA finished second with over $2.3 million and Aera Energy finished third with nearly $628,000.
Sponsoring Media Dinners and Awards for Journalists: In recent months, Big Oil has launched a chilling campaign to sponsor dinners, awards ceremonies and conferences for journalists and the media. WPSA sponsored a “media dinner” on Tuesday, February 28 in Sacramento as part of #BizFedSactoDays.
The flyer for the event stated, “Journalists who play an outsize role in shaping narratives about state politics and holding lawmakers accountable will join business leaders to pull back the curtain on how they select and tell stories about California policies, policy and power.”
Speakers at the program included Coleen Nelson of the Sacramento Bee, Laurel Rosenhall of the Los Angeles Times, Kaitlyn Schallhorn of the Orange County Register and Dan Walters of Cal Matters.
More recently, the Sacramento Press Club announced that WSPA was a new “Lede Sponsor” of the Sacramento Press Club's Journalism Awards Reception that was held on March 29. Sadly, only two journalists, myself and Aaron Cantu of Capital and Main, publicly challenged the funding of journalist awards by Big Oil.
In addition to sponsoring journalism events in California, the Western States Petroleum Association has expanded its campaign to influence journalists nationally. WSPA and the controversial waste management firm Veolia North America sponsored events at this year’s Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) conference in Boise, Idaho, according to a report from DeSmog: scq.io/...
The agenda for the conference, hosted in Boise, Idaho, revealed that WSPA and the waste management company Veolia North America sponsored two of the “beat dinners” hosted on April 21, the article by Sam Bright reported. .
When #BigOil teams up with journalists, columnists and editors at events and only a couple of writers thinks there’s something wrong with this, you know we must be in deep trouble.
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