Hydraulic Fracturing
Credit: USGS
California Fracking Ban Took Effect Statewide on Tuesday
October 2, 2024 – SACRAMENTO, CA – California’s fracking ban went into effect on Tuesday, officially ending the dangerous, highly intensive method of oil and gas extraction in the state.
As of Tuesday, the state oil and gas regulator is prohibited from issuing fracking permits for oil and gas wells, bringing a multi-year regulatory process to a close.
“It’s a huge relief that the scourge of fracking is finally finished in our state,” said Hollin Kretzmann, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute. “Fracking causes tremendous air and water pollution and it harms people’s health. Lives will be saved by ending it in California once and for all.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced in September 2020 that his administration would end fracking permits by 2024 due to the health and safety harms to communities and workers. The state oil and gas regulator last approved a fracking permit in 2021 but had not officially banned the practice until the regulation took effect today.
Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is a toxic technique that blasts huge amounts of water mixed with hazardous chemicals into the earth, fracturing underground rock to release oil and gas.
California’s fracking ban culminates more than a decade of advocacy from frontline communities and public health and environmental groups that raised the alarm over fracking’s dangers. Many of those harms are also present in conventional oil and gas production.
“To protect everything from our lungs to our climate, California needs to stop approving permits for new oil extraction and require this dying industry to clean up its mess,” said Kretzmann. “We know the deadly heatwaves, destructive wildfires and devastating floods will only get worse the longer we wait. This fracking ban is a major milestone in California’s efforts to end fossil fuels and hold polluters accountable for their damage.”
Recent laws have made major progress in addressing oil and gas pollution. The state’s landmark health and safety setback law, Senate Bill 1137, took effect in June to reduce harm to frontline communities.
Last month Newsom signed two key oil and gas bills into law, both sponsored by the Center for Biological Diversity. Assembly Bill 1866 increases the minimum number of idle wells that oil companies must plug each year and increases fees for not plugging them. Assembly Bill 3233 affirms local governments’ ability to ban, regulate and restrict oil and gas operations in their jurisdictions.
Photo credit: San Ardo Oil Fields | San Ardo, California by Drew Bird Photography
The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.7 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
Source & photo: Center for Biological Diversity
Related: Center for Biological Diversity Reports California Fracking Ban Nears Finalization
