Editorial: Delay California’s oil drilling protections until 2031? No way

Communities across California, from Los Angeles to the San Joaquin Valley, have fought for more than a decade to stop oil companies from drilling in their neighborhoods and spewing health-damaging pollution into the air. The passage of a landmark state law in 2022 to ban new drilling within 3,200 feet of homes, schools, child care centers and hospitals and establish new health protections for existing wells seemed to be the victory they sought. For years, the oil industry used its lobbying power in Sacramento to beat back lawmakers’ efforts to ban new oil wells and protect Californians from the health impacts of existing drilling operations. But under Newsom’s proposal, oil companies would get more than four additional years to meet the law’s requirements to monitor and repair leaks from existing wells. “This is delaying by many years without any kind of policy oversight.” Though oil companies will be the primary beneficiaries of these delays, Newsom administration officials have insisted it is necessary to give state agencies more time to hire staff and prepare for implementing the law properly.