In September, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 1137 barring oil drilling within 3,200 feet of dwellings, schools, hospitals, nursing homes, prisons, parks, and other sensitive areas. The law also tightens oversight of oil operations. The state legislature notes in its preamble to the law that health impacts “are disproportionately impacting Black, Indigenous, and people of color in California, who are most likely to live in close proximity to oil extraction activities and who are the most vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change.”
The law was a hard sell in the state legislature, with the oil industry battling it every step of the way after having previously defeated two similar bills. It will take effect Jan. 1, 2023. Unless, that is, petitioners backed by $17.9 million from 16 oil companies succeed in gathering 623,212 signatures to put a referendum on the ballot repealing it. If they do, enforcement of the law would be blocked until the 2024 election, allowing companies to keep drilling for two more years in the buffer ”health zones” set by SB 1137 until voters decide its fate. But signature-gatherers must complete their work by Dec. 15. Right now they’re far from that goal.
And guess what? Petitioners are lying, telling people they approach for a signature that passing the referendum would prohibit drilling in sensitive areas, the opposite of what it would actually do. Hardly a surprise, given the oil industry’s decades of paying “experts” to disinform the public on climate change and whose deceitful advertising now touts these companies as the greenest entities on the planet.
The lying is illegal, a common election code violation. Community organizers urge anyone witnessing a signature-gatherer misleading a voter to file a complaint with the Secretary of State. If you believe you have been misled, you can get your signature removed by following these steps.
The exceptional journalist Liza Gross lays out the story in detail at Inside Climate News. She cites Kobi Naseck, coordinator for VISIÓN (Voices in Solidarity Against Oil in Neighborhoods), a coalition of public health and environmental justice groups working to protect communities from backyard drilling. “The behavior that we’re seeing from these signature gatherers undermines our democracy,” he said. “Big Oil is paying people to lie to the general public. They’re effectively buying the policy they want.” Not exactly an outlier in political jackassery.
The buffer zones are no small matter, as Gross explains:
The good news in all this, in addition to the signature-gathering effort falling short, is that state regulators aren’t letting the prospect of the referendum slow them down in preparing to put the law into effect. Early last month, the California Geologic Energy Management Division, or CalGEM, which oversees oil and gas drilling, held an online public workshop to present their plans for enforcing the law next month.
Whatever the destiny of SB 1137, two things we can always count on are oil companies lying and the continued extraction and burning of oil and other fossil fuels maiming and killing people.
• • • • • • • •
A few related stores:
Doctors in Lancet report say continuing to burn fossil fuels kills millions of people every year
Earth Matters: Sea-bed mining risks damage; Black people affected worse in 'cancer alley'
Earth Matters: Surprise! Big Oil's words about how green they're getting aren’t matched by deeds
Earth Matters: Hate the way things are going environmentally and otherwise? Thank the Kochtopus
The law was a hard sell in the state legislature, with the oil industry battling it every step of the way after having previously defeated two similar bills. It will take effect Jan. 1, 2023. Unless, that is, petitioners backed by $17.9 million from 16 oil companies succeed in gathering 623,212 signatures to put a referendum on the ballot repealing it. If they do, enforcement of the law would be blocked until the 2024 election, allowing companies to keep drilling for two more years in the buffer ”health zones” set by SB 1137 until voters decide its fate. But signature-gatherers must complete their work by Dec. 15. Right now they’re far from that goal.
And guess what? Petitioners are lying, telling people they approach for a signature that passing the referendum would prohibit drilling in sensitive areas, the opposite of what it would actually do. Hardly a surprise, given the oil industry’s decades of paying “experts” to disinform the public on climate change and whose deceitful advertising now touts these companies as the greenest entities on the planet.
The lying is illegal, a common election code violation. Community organizers urge anyone witnessing a signature-gatherer misleading a voter to file a complaint with the Secretary of State. If you believe you have been misled, you can get your signature removed by following these steps.
The exceptional journalist Liza Gross lays out the story in detail at Inside Climate News. She cites Kobi Naseck, coordinator for VISIÓN (Voices in Solidarity Against Oil in Neighborhoods), a coalition of public health and environmental justice groups working to protect communities from backyard drilling. “The behavior that we’re seeing from these signature gatherers undermines our democracy,” he said. “Big Oil is paying people to lie to the general public. They’re effectively buying the policy they want.” Not exactly an outlier in political jackassery.
The buffer zones are no small matter, as Gross explains:
The good news in all this, in addition to the signature-gathering effort falling short, is that state regulators aren’t letting the prospect of the referendum slow them down in preparing to put the law into effect. Early last month, the California Geologic Energy Management Division, or CalGEM, which oversees oil and gas drilling, held an online public workshop to present their plans for enforcing the law next month.
Whatever the destiny of SB 1137, two things we can always count on are oil companies lying and the continued extraction and burning of oil and other fossil fuels maiming and killing people.
• • • • • • • •
A few related stores:
Doctors in Lancet report say continuing to burn fossil fuels kills millions of people every year
Earth Matters: Sea-bed mining risks damage; Black people affected worse in 'cancer alley'
Earth Matters: Surprise! Big Oil's words about how green they're getting aren’t matched by deeds
Earth Matters: Hate the way things are going environmentally and otherwise? Thank the Kochtopus