Three Bills To Hold Oil Drillers Accountable and Make “Polluters Pay” Pass Legislature and Go To Governor’s Desk, says Consumer Watchdog

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Sept. 1, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — In the last hours of the California legislative session, critical legislation holding oil drillers accountable for their pollution passed the California legislature and move to Governor Newsom’s desk.

“California is one step closer to shutting down oil wells that endanger communities and cleaning up its oil well contamination,” said Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog. “California’s legislature is once again leading the way in protecting communities form the harmful impact of oil drilling. These landmark bills protect communities by prioritizing the plugging of idle wells, pressuring the shut-down of the nation’s largest urban oil field, and protecting municipal laws limiting oil drilling from legal assault. This Make Polluters Pay legislative package will protect people from the health impacts of oil drilling in communities.”

AB 2716 (Bryan), the Low Producing Well Accountability Act, requires oil wells in the Inglewood Oil Field that produce less than 15 barrels of oil per day to pay $10,000 per month. The oil field is the largest urban oil field in America. Sponsored by Consumer Watchdog, the bill is expected to lead to the closure of the Inglewood Oil Field in the Baldwin Hills area of Los Angeles and its 800 community oil wells.

AB 1866 (Hart), the Idle Oil Well Cleanup Act, prioritizes the clean-up of idle wells to facilitate the plugging of the wells and protect communities.

AB 3233 (Addis), the Local Environmental Choice And Safety Act, protects local statutes that limit drilling from statewide preemption arguments and should bolster the ban on new wells passed by the City and County of Los Angeles City. 

“As California reaches the end of its oil drilling, it is taking the appropriate steps to make sure the oil drillers that exploited our resources for profit have the responsibility to clean up the mess they made and do not continue to harm residents by running low producing wells,” said Court. 

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SOURCE Consumer Watchdog