SACRAMENTO, Calif. — After years of failed attempts to impose health and safety buffer zones around new oil and gas wells in California, state lawmakers on Wednesday sent a bill to the governor that would require setbacks between those production sites and residential neighborhoods and other sensitive areas.
Senate Bill 1137 is a major part of a package of climate legislation that Gov. Gavin Newsom pledged to bolster the state's environmental policies.
"It's a long-standing and glaring example of environmental racism," said state Sen. Lena Gonzalez, D-Long Beach, who introduced the bill. "Research shows, of course, that people of color, Black, brown and Indigenous people suffer the greatest consequences of this toxic proximity and these are the same communities that have oil production in their backyards."
