Oil and gas permitting continues to skyrocket in California’s neighborhoods as Q1 comes to a close

In response to the news that CalGEM has approved nearly 600 permits within 3,200-feet of communities in Q1, Greenpeace USA Senior Climate Campaigner Amy Moas, Ph.D., said: “California’s regulators appear to be on a permitting power trip, granting the industry its dying wish for a glut of more drilling with little regard for our planet nor California’s communities. At the start of Q1, it was illegal for California to approve any kind of oil drilling permit in neighborhoods because of the devastating  health impacts. By the end of the quarter, after the oil industry spent $20 million to pause the law prohibiting these neighborhood oil permits, we’re in a drastically different place. This is unacceptable. We need Governor Newsom to rein in his rogue regulators and immediately stop approving requests for new permits that are locking us into a toxic future. The wellbeing of millions of Californians is at risk.”

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Greenpeace USA is part of a global network of independent campaigning organizations that use peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future. Greenpeace USA is committed to transforming the country’s unjust social, environmental, and economic systems from the ground up to address the climate crisis, advance racial justice, and build an economy that puts people first. Learn more at www.greenpeace.org/usa.