Right now, more than 2 Million Californians are living next to the toxic byproducts of oil and gas drilling in their neighborhoods. Governor Gavin Newsom has instructed the state entity that regulates oil and gas, the California Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM), to establish rules to protect public health from impacts of oil and gas extraction. Now, it’s time to give our input! Join us with your public comment to 1) support a 3,200-foot setback for new wells, 2) demand that the setback applies to existing wells, and 3) demand an emergency response to ban all new permits within the setback until the final rule is in effect.
For more information on the dangerous health impacts of oil drilling in neighborhoods, click here.
Tell California Officials: No Drilling Where We’re Living!
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TO: Department of Conservation
801 K Street, MS 24-02
Sacramento, CA 95814
E-mail: [email protected]
Re: Draft Regulations in Public Health Rulemaking
I strongly encourage CalGEM to establish highly protective rules, including setting a science-based minimum distance of 3,200 feet between drilling operations and sensitive receptors including homes, schools, businesses, prisons, and healthcare facilities to avoid serious public health and safety risks.
People who live near oil and gas drilling sites are suffering from fossil fuel pollution-induced diseases. More and more studies link proximity to oil and gas wells to a host of harmful health impacts, including cancer, high risk pregnancies, asthma and other respiratory ailments. Now, research shows that those who live in heavily polluted areas have a higher risk of severe complications from COVID-19.
Our lungs cannot differentiate between toxins generated from new wells and those that have been poisoning our communities for years. It’s critical that California applies any robust, protective health and safety zone to existing extraction sites as well as new ones. To that end, the state must prohibit all new permits within setbacks-including re-work permits that extend the life of existing wells-in order to phase out existing wells and end neighborhood drilling. Doing so will bring frontline communities one step closer to environmental justice.
Science has confirmed what our communities have long known - that oil and gas drilling in our neighborhoods is poisoning us. Until this draft rule is finalized, we urge CALGEM to stop issuing permits of any kind within the 3,200ft setback distance.
In California, low-income communities and communities of color are disproportionately affected by these serious, costly health impacts. A minimum setback of 3,200-foot that encompasses both new and existing oil and gas sites will protect frontline communities, the same communities that policymakers have allowed oil companies to sacrifice in the name of profit for a hundred years.
It’s time to stand up for public health and environmental justice, especially during a devastating pandemic. In an unprecedented time, we need leadership that will match the urgency of this moment and listen to the clear messages of science and public health experts. Nobody should lose years off their life because of their zip code.