Gavin Newsom Sued for 'Completely Unacceptable' Approval of Oil and Gas Projects in California
Accusing California regulators of "reckless disregard" for public "health and safety," the environmental advocacy group Center for Biological Diversity on Wednesday sued the administration of Gov. Gavin Newsom for approving thousands of oil and gas drilling and fracking projects without the required environmental review.
The lawsuit claims that the California Geologic Energy
Management Division (CalGEM) failed to adequately analyze environmental and
health risks before issuing fossil fuel extraction permits, as required by law.
According to the suit, California regulators approved nearly 2,000 new oil and
gas permits without proper environmental review.
"CalGEM routinely violates its duty to conduct an
initial study and further environmental review for any new oil and gas well
drilling, well stimulation, or injection permits and approvals," the suit
alleges. "Instead, CalGEM repeatedly and consistently issues permits and
approvals for oil and gas drilling, well stimulation, and injection projects
without properly disclosing, analyzing, or mitigating the significant
environmental impacts of these projects."
The center noted that "despite Gov. Newsom's
progressive rhetoric on climate change, he has failed to curb California's
dirty and carbon-intensive oil and gas production."
"His regulators continue to issue thousands of permits
without review, and the governor has refused to act on his stated desire to ban
fracking," the group said in a statement. "Newsom's regulators also
failed to meet the governor's deadline to publish a draft health-and-safety
rule after vowing to do so before the end of 2020."
Last September, as deadly climate-driven wildfires ravaged
large swaths of California and turned skies in the San Francisco Bay Area an
apocalyptic shade of orange, Newsom called on the Democrat-controlled state
legislature to stop issuing new fracking permits by 2024, drawing widespread
rebuke from climate campaigners who argued that now is the time to act.
Hollin Kretzmann, an attorney at the Center for Biological
Diversity's Climate Law Institute, said Wednesday that "it is completely
unacceptable for Gov. Newsom to continue to ignore our flagship environmental
law that's meant to protect people from oil industry pollution."
"Newsom can't protect our health and climate while
giving thousands of illegal permits each year to this dirty and dangerous
industry," Kretzmann added. "We need the courts to step in and stop
this."
Deborah Sivas, director of the Environmental Law Clinic at
Stanford Law School and an attorney representing the Center for Biological
Diversity in the lawsuit, said that "state laws are designed to protect
communities and minimize pollution."
"The state can't continue to pretend these fundamental
protections don't apply to one of the most polluting and dangerous industries
on the planet," added Sivas.
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