Oppose Oil Expansion in Kern County!
Updated: Dec 7, 2020
The Kern County Board of Supervisors is for the second time looking to pass a fast-track drilling ordinance for the oil and gas industry.
With only a single "project plan," the ordinance will approve 70,000 new wells to be installed over the next 20 to 25 years – a near-doubling of the wells already operating in the county. Worse, the ordinance would circumvent review of the wells' environmental impact under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
In other words, Kern County supervisors want to eliminate the possibility of citizens having oversight to review new well proposals incrementally as plans are made for new wells that will directly impact their communities.
The plan includes only a 210 ft setback between wells and homes or schools. Kern County tried to pass a similar ordinance in 2015, and the plan was rejected by the courts earlier this year. Now, the Kern County Board of Supervisors is trying again.
The 350 Silicon Valley legislative team's opinion is that a "single project" ordinance does not adequately provide for environmental assessment (CEQA), nor does it recognize that what the state needs to do is a phase-out of wells altogether as we address climate change and exit from fossil fuel usage.
Join with Kern communities to protect public health, air, and water, and to slow climate change. Sign the petition and write Governor Newsom!
