Tell Gov. Newsom: Stop Permitting Fracking Now
Governor Gavin Newsom
Fires have torn through California, leaving communities and ecosystems devastated in their wake. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has rightly linked the intensity and severity of these fires to climate change. Despite this, he has continued issuing permits for fossil fuel companies to dig and drill and fuel the climate crisis.
Despite pushing back against the Trump administration’s plan to expand oil extraction in California, the state has issued 190% more oil and gas drilling permits in the first six months of 2020 than were approved under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s first six months in office.
Tell Gov. Newsom to stop issuing new permits for fracking and drilling in California by signing this petition.
Despite claiming to stand up for racial and environmental justice, the governor has permitted fracking and toxic oil extraction in communities of color that are already being devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic and disproportionately harmed by fossil fuel pollution. We need the governor to step up now and halt all new permits, establish a 2,500-foot buffer to protect communities from these activities, and begin a just transition away from fossil fuels.
Act now to urge Gov. Newsom to use his power as leader of a major world economy and oil-producing state to change course and usher in a just and thriving future for all Californians.
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To:
Governor Gavin Newsom
From:
[Your Name]
Dear Governor Gavin Newsom,
I urge you to immediately stop issuing new oil and gas permits for fracking and drilling in California.
As you have said, the horrific fires that have torn through our state are fueled by climate change which has made them more severe and more intense. Nevertheless, you have issued over 1500 fossil fuel permits this year, 190% more than this time last year. If we are to have any chance of mitigating the climate crisis the vast majority of fossil fuels have to stay in the ground, but you have allowed oil companies to do just the opposite.
What's more, these fracking permits have been handed out in the middle of a pandemic despite research showing that people living in areas with worse air pollution are more likely to die from the coronavirus. Numerous studies show that fracking and drilling in California contribute to serious health problems such as underweight births, asthma, respiratory illnesses and cancer.
Oil and gas corporations have treated communities of color as sacrifice zones. So issuing more permits for fracking and drilling in these areas only reproduces the systemic racism you claim to oppose.
As governor of a major world economy and one of the largest oil-producing states in the country, you have the power and the opportunity to change course and usher in a just and thriving future for all Californians. I'm urging you to live up to the promises you've made by using your executive authority to:
1) Stop issuing new permits for fracking and oil and gas drilling in California;
2) Roll out statewide 2,500-foot health-and-safety buffer zones between fossil fuel infrastructure and homes, schools and other sensitive sites; and
3) Phase out existing fossil fuel production with a just and equitable transition that protects workers, communities and economies.
Please — do the right thing and move forward with these changes as quickly as possible.