California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during the Milken Institute Global Conference on October 20, 2021 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced a move to prevent new oil drilling near communities.
During a press conference on Thursday, Newsom committed to the establishment a 3,200 foot exclusion space to keep oil and gas drilling away from neighborhoods. The proposed regulation would prohibit new wells and facilities within the exclusion area to be kept away from homes, schools, hospitals among other vulnerable areas.
Newsom said he’s already put a down payment of $600 million in grants for impacted regions.
“We are committing next year’s budget, which I’m working on already, to put hundreds of millions more to plug in abandoned wells and to hire the same people that were reworking these wells, to plug in abandoned wells. And we are going to work closely with communities,” said Newsom.
We need to stop putting oil company profits over the health of our kids.
Your zip code shouldn’t determine if your kid gets asthma or is born with a birth defect.
It’s time to stop the drilling of any new oil wells within 3,200 feet of homes & schools.pic.twitter.com/V2c9kFAPla
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) October 21, 2021
Although, this is only part of Newsom’s bigger plans to phase out oil production in California no later than 2045. “We don’t see oil in our future,” Newsom said on Thursday.
The move comes after a recent oil spill off the Southern California coast, which threatened marine life and coastal communities.
Source: One America News Network
