{"id":358229,"date":"2021-10-22T10:45:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-22T10:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grist.org\/?p=550271"},"modified":"2021-10-22T10:45:00","modified_gmt":"2021-10-22T10:45:00","slug":"california-proposes-3200-foot-buffer-zone-between-oil-wells-and-homes-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/10\/22\/california-proposes-3200-foot-buffer-zone-between-oil-wells-and-homes-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"California proposes 3,200-foot buffer zone between oil wells and homes, schools"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
This story was produced in collaboration with Capital & Main<\/a>, a nonprofit media publication focused on inequality<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After years of advocacy by frontline communities, California may finally be on the way to implementing a key health and safety regulation to protect communities living near oil and gas extraction facilities. Governor Gavin Newsom announced the new draft ruling from the California Geologic Energy Management Agency, or CalGEM, today in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Wilmington, one of the most polluted communities in the state. The new ruling will ban the permitting of oil and gas wells within 3,200 feet of community sites, including homes, schools, hospitals, and nursing homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n California is one of the only oil-producing states that had no regulations on how close oil and gas wells can operate to the places where people live, study, and receive health care. About 2 million Californians currently living within the setback distance of oil and gas wells would be protected by the new ruling; a recent analysis<\/a> from Grist and Capital & Main showed that 392 schools across the state, serving over a quarter of a million students, are within 2,500 feet of a well. Black, Latino, and low-income communities are most commonly situated near oil wells — making setbacks a key issue to address environmental racism in the state. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWilmington residents have lived with the dangerous health impacts of oil drilling for far too long. The governor\u2019s announcement regarding the CALGEM rulemaking shows us that the Newsom administration is listening to us,\u201d said Wendy Miranda of Communities for a Better Environment in a statement. \u201cBut now we need them to strengthen this rule and make it law. Countless frontline environmental justice communities have been waiting for this rule and we look forward to engaging in the process to ensure that workers and communities are protected as this rule is finalized.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The new regulation, once implemented, would be the strongest in the country \u2014 stronger even than Colorado\u2019s 2,000-foot setback<\/a>, adopted last year despite bitter resistance from the oil industry<\/a>. The Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), one of the most powerful lobbying forces in California, lobbied in opposition to two previous setback bills; in response to today\u2019s announcement, WSPA CEO Catherine Reheis-Boyd called the rulemaking \u201can activist assault on California\u2019s way of life, economy, and people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Newsom noted in the announcement that the proposed setback would impact 30 percent of oil production in the state. The proposed setback<\/a> would prevent new wells from being permitted within the setback zone and existing wells from being re-permitted, as well as impose stringent new health and safety requirements on existing wells. Today\u2019s announcement, however, is only a draft rulemaking — it will be at least another year after it is finalized before it takes effect, likely not until 2023, according to Wade Crowfoot<\/a>, secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oil and gas wells have significant impacts on air quality and public health for the communities living next door. A study by Stanford and University of California, Berkeley, researchers released last week <\/a>showed that communities living within 2.5 miles of oil and gas wells are exposed to higher levels of pollutants dangerous to human health, including fine particulate matter, carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide, ozone, and volatile organic compounds. Of particular concern is fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, a particularly harmful pollutant that was linked to one in five deaths<\/a> worldwide in 2018, as well as increased risk of COVID mortality<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n