SACRAMENTO, CA – Today, Senators voted 25-10 in a decisive victory to advance SB 1137 (Gonzalez, Limon) to the Governor’s desk. When signed by Governor Newsom before the September 30th deadline, SB 1137 will prevent new permits for oil and gas drilling within a 3,200ft comprehensive health and safety zone. The bill also will create a pathway to an end of existing drilling in the setback zone by prohibiting operators from seeking rework permits and through a broad set of engineering and pollution controls.
This decisive legislative victory for oil and gas buffer zones comes three years after a broad coalition of environmental justice, public health, labor, youth and environmental organizations first launched an effort to pass statewide setbacks policy.
Governor Newsom, who has publicly championed a phaseout timeline for oil extraction in California, introduced the setbacks bill as part of a late-session set of Climate Pillars. A regulatory effort to achieve setbacks had stalled for years in the state oil and gas regulatory agency, CalGEM, even after residents from across California submitted over 80,000 public comments to the state agency in support of health and safety setbacks.
“It feels surreal, when I heard them say ‘it passes’ I felt a huge sense of relief. We have been fighting for this for years! We’ve taken people, including Governor Newsom, to our community and showed them how it looks and smells for those that are living & playing next to oil drilling. I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, for me, and those who will come after me,” said Nizgui Gomez, Wilmington Resident and Member of Communities for A Better Environment.