Los Angeles, CA – Consumer Watchdog thanked Governor Brown for signing important legislation today trying to stop activation of oil wells in federal waters. The nonprofit group noted that Brown has jurisdiction over four times more state oil wells in state waters off California’s coast than oil wells Trump has control of in federal waters off the coast and Brown needs to shut those wells down. (Click on this map for the details)
During his administration Brown, has issued more than 20,000 permits to drill new oil and gas wells in California, and that includes more than 200 permits for off shore wells in state waters — wells within 3 miles of the California coast.
“Governor Brown cannot preach one mantra of ‘Drill baby drill’ in California and another when it comes to Trump drilling in federal waters off California,” said Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog. “That’s hypocrisy not leadership. Governor Brown needs to revoke the permits for the hundreds of oil wells he has approved off California’s coast if he is willing to prevent Trump from drilling in federal waters off California. Today’s signing is an important step for coastal protection, but Brown needs to walk the walk and revoke the permits of the offshore wells he controls in state waters too.”
Between 2012 and 2017, Brown Administration regulators issued about 238 permits for new state wells in existing offshore leases, within three miles of the coast, and 171 of those offshore wells are currently active, according to analysis by the nonprofit FracTracker Alliance.
Oil production continues from 1,366 offshore wells in existing leases, according to the California Department of Conservation in 2017.
Overall the state under Brown controls four times as many offshore oil wells in state waters as Trump’s federal government controls in California waters. Activists are marching in San Francisco today for Brown to shut down the more than 20,000 oil wells he has approved, making today’s rare Saturday bill signing no coincidence.
An online map at www.BrownvTrumpoilmap.org shows all the state offshore wells under Brown’s control vs the federal wells under Trump’s control, with geo-location data for each.
“Brown has jurisdiction over four times as many offshore wells as Trump, and he needs to set an example by revoking the rights to drill in these active and inactive wells if today’s signing is not to be more than a PR move prior to the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco next week.”
800 public interest groups have called upon Brown to limit neighborhood drilling and freeze new oil permits. He has refused to date. Read more at http://www.brownslastchance.org They will protest in San Francisco all week.
Senator Jackson’s bill, SB 834, passed the Senate Floor August 29 by a vote of 28 to 7, with 5 votes not recorded. Senator Muratsuchi’s bill, AB 1775, passed the Assembly Floor August 29 by a vote of 45 to 24, with 10 votes not recorded. Both are important bills to limiting oil drilling and were signed by Brown today.
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