National News
Feb 18, 2021
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) New legislation would ban all fracking in California by 2027, taking aim at the powerful oil and gas industry in the state already planning to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035.
Progressive California has long been a leader in combating climate change, requiring solar panels on new homes and passing a law to make the nation’s most populated state rely entirely on renewable energy by 2045.
But environmental groups say California officials particularly governors have long had a blind spot for the oil and gas industry, which has wielded its immense political power many times to kill or weaken legislation aimed at curtailing production.
California Democrats move to ban fracking by 2027. Can their bill reach Gov. Newsom?
Sacramento Bee 2/18/2021 Andrew Sheeler, The Sacramento Bee
Feb. 17 California would ban hydraulic fracturing, also called fracking, by 2027, under a bill introduced in the state Senate on Wednesday.
The bill, introduced by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, and Sen. Monique Limón, D-Santa Barbara, also would prohibit the issuance of new permits for fracking, acid well stimulation treatments, cyclic steaming and water and steam flooding beginning in 2022.
The bill s authors say that it is necessary to fight the existential threat of climate change. Extracting massive amounts of oil particularly with destructive techniques such as fracking is totally inconsistent with California s commitment to a sustainable climate future, Wiener said in a statement.
(Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)
Newsom administration officials said this week that they will evaluate the role of California’s landmark cap-and-trade program as the state examines its strategies for tackling climate change over the next decade.
At an oversight hearing Tuesday, Jared Blumenfeld, secretary for environmental protection, and Air Resources Board Chair Liane Randolph said the carbon trading program will be a key part of the conversation as California updates its climate road map, called a scoping plan, over the next two years.
Neither Blumenfeld nor Randolph, however, would say specifically what will be examined or how the program might change. “Any changes would need to be carefully thought through and accompanied by economic and environmental processes,” Blumenfeld said.
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