As the California Senate and Assembly return to session after the summer recess, climate, environmental justice and public health advocates unfurled a powerful banner in the Capitol rotunda calling on Governor Newsom and the legislature to stand up to Big Oil.  

“Today we are sending the clear message that Californians will not stand by while self-appointed climate leaders in both the legislature and governor’s mansion capitulate to industry pressure, endangering our health and our climate in the process,” said Food & Water Watch California Director Nicole Ghio. “This is not the time to back down in the face of corporate greed, it’s the time to fight even harder for the safe, clean and sustainable future free from pollution that Californians deserve.”

In July, the governor’s office circulated a legislative proposal that would dramatically expand oil drilling across the state and undermine health protections and community input in the review process.

Two of the many industry-backed bills moving through the session this year are expected to be heard in the Appropriations Committee soon – AB 881 and SB 614. These bills would create a pathway to prematurely lift California’s 2022 moratorium on CO2 pipelines and carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects, which could put California communities already burdened by pollution at more risk of health and safety harms. 

“California’s moratorium on CO2 pipelines was intended to protect us from the lack of federal pipeline regulations. At a time when our federal government is stripping away our protections at every turn, why are we even considering lifting the ones we do have?” said Isabel Penman, Food & Water Watch Northern California Organizer. “Lifting the moratorium would put communities at risk of incredibly dangerous, or even potentially deadly, CO2 leaks and could speed up the greenlighting of the failing fossil fuel industry schemes like carbon capture and storage. We simply can’t afford to risk the safety of our communities.”