California ban on fracking by 2024 criticized as too late
SACRAMENTO >> California Gov. Gavin Newsom moved Wednesday to end issuing new hydraulic fracturing permits by 2024, a delay criticized by many environmental groups but characterized as legally and politically realistic by another.
“He can suspend fracking now, but he is punting to the Legislature,” Consumer Watchdog advocate Liza Tucker said.
Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, was equally critical, saying that the governor “can’t claim climate leadership while handing out permits to oil companies to drill and frack.”
Greenpeace USA’s Caroline Henderson said Newsom’s track record on fossil fuels “has only gotten worse,” while Food & Water Action California director Alexandra Nagy said his announcement amounts to “lofty words and predictions, but no meaningful action.”
The Democratic governor signed an executive order to stop sales of new gasoline-powered passenger cars and trucks by 2035 while also announcing that he will ask the Legislature next year to end new fracking permits by 2024.
T he env i ronment a l groups say he also already has the legal authority to end fracking, which they say threatens water supplies and public health while allowing for the continued use of fossil fuels that lead to global warming.
The technique allows energy companies to extract oil and gas from shale rock deep underground by injecting highpressure mixtures of water, sand or gravel and chemicals into rock.
Siegel’s nonprofit conser vation organization on Monday notified Newsom that it intends to sue his administration to stop what it says is the illegal permitting of 1,500 oil and gas wells just this year without the proper environmental reviews.
The group cited a ProPublica and Palm Springs Desert Sun investigation that found oil companies have reaped millions of dollars from selling the oil leaked from illegal spills with little punishment from state regulators they say are far too cozy with the petroleum industry.