More than five million Californians live within a mile of an oil or gas well in our state. Asthma and cancers are prevalent in these vulnerable communities because of the pollution that contaminates the air and soil.

With CalGEM’s public health rulemaking you can right these wrongs and put us on the path to a healthy, low-carbon future. I ask that you approve a 2500-ft. buffer between oil and gas operations and sensitive sites, especially where children are present.

I further ask you to require the closure of all inactive wells and adequate testing of cyclic steam injection wells every year, testing of air quality in neighborhoods that properly accounts for continuous exposures, adequate planning for earthquakes, and to ban flaring and release of fugitive methane, drilling through aquifers and the use of toxic herbicides in oilfields.

Of urgent importance is that accelerating climate tipping points have made inconsistent and piecemeal regulations unacceptable going forward. We need extraordinary courage by your agency to transition as fast as possible away from fossil fuel energy.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on a rulemaking that is of critical importance to our state!