Activists unfurl banners calling on Newsom to stand up to Big Oil, stop oil drilling expansion

As the California Legislature returned to session after the summer recess on Monday, August 18, a group of climate and environmental activists unfurled four blue and yellow banners proclaiming “Newson Stand Up To Big Oil” in the Capitol rotunda.

While they held the banners aloft, they chanted, “When Big Oil is on the attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back,” and other chants urging the Governor and Legislature to not cave into Big Oil pressure to pass bills that would expand oil drilling in California.

“The protest was held today because the Governor and Legislature are considering bills proposing more oil drilling in California in response to refinery closures,” said Ilonka Zlatar of the Oil and Gas Action Network. “They are trying to roll back the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and other environmental laws.”

Food & Water Watch California Director Nicole Ghio, also commented on the significance of the action in a statement.

“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,” Ghio said. “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.”

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

Two of the oil industry-backed bills moving through the session this year — AB 881 and SB 614 —are expected to be heard in the Appropriations Committee soon.

“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,” according to Ghio.

“California’s moratorium on CO2 pipelines was intended to protect us from the lack of federal pipeline regulations,” said Food & Water Watch Northern California Organizer Isabel Penman. “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."

“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,” Penman noted.

Dr. Goli Sahba, a retired physician with Third Act Sacramento and the Sacramento Climate Coalition, emphasized that millions of Californians are at risk of the increasing adverse health impacts of expanded oil drilling and fossil fuel burning if the legislation is able to pass through the Legislature and go to the Governor’s Desk.

“The consequences of increased fossil fuel extraction are very real. They include increased risks of asthma, cardiovascular events, MI, strokes, dementia and pre-term births,” explained Sahba.