California Environmental Justice Alliance (CEJA) and Sierra Club applaud the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) decision to require utilities’ integrated resource plans (IRP) to meet state climate and clean air goals, as well as to play a stronger role in directing procurement of clean energy. Throughout the IRP proceeding, CEJA and Sierra Club have advocated for the CPUC to take concrete steps consistent with California laws such as SB 100 and SB 350, which require both a phase-out of fossil fuels and reductions in air pollution that impacts disadvantaged communities….
News
This page features excerpts from news about environmental justice advocacy in the San Joaquin Valley and links to their original sources. Use the features on the right to sort by topic, news source, date, key word or author. You may also subscribe to receive the news by e-mail or through an rss reader. Please note that links to original sources may expire over time.
The Trump administration today released its draft plan to reopen more than a million acres of public land and mineral estate in central California to oil drilling and fracking. The plan would end a five-year-old moratorium on leasing federal public land in the state to oil companies.
Today’s draft “environmental impact statement” from the Bureau of Land Management proposes opening up 1,011,470 acres of public land and federal mineral estate in Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tulare and Ventura counties to fossil fuel extraction…
After California Governor Gavin Newsom took office on January 7, a writer for the Washington Post observed, “The change of power … will push this liberal state further left.” Environmental extremists are hoping that Newsom’s leftist views will include his support for banning new oil and gas drilling in California and a complete phase-out of all fossil-fuel extraction — including fracking….
San Joaquin Valley air still ranks the worst in the country, according to the American Lung Association’s annual State of the Air report released on Wednesday. Bakersfield and the Fresno-Madera-Hanford region ranked worst in the country for particle pollution — despite the fact that many of these cities experienced fewer unhealthy days than the previous year….
Fresno and surrounding central San Joaquin Valley cities are at the top of a U.S. ranking for being the most polluted American cities, according to an annual report released Tuesday night by the American Lung Association. California counties in the Valley region to receive a failing “F” grade in the State of the Air 2019 report include Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced and Tulare. Will Barrett, director of clean air advocacy for the American Lung Association in California, said during a Tuesday news conference that progress has been slower in the Valley than other parts of the state in addressing air pollution….
On Earth Day, California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara chose “collaboration” with the insurance industry over urgent climate action. Commissioner Lara rejected a petition from 60 environmental, consumer and social justice groups that sought emergency rules to make insurers disclose the fossil fuel projects they insure. The Commissioner’s refusal to act allows insurers to keep their complicity in global warming secret and puts the brakes on the forward momentum on climate built by the previous Department of Insurance, said Consumer Watchdog….
East Orosi is an unincorporated community in Tulare County of approximately 700 people, nearly all of whom are low-income Latino farmworker families. East Orosi is served by the East Orosi Community Service District (EOCSD), which has been in repeated violation of drinking water standards for nitrate and bacteria for more than 10 years. The groundwater in the immediate vicinity of East Orosi has nitrate levels that regularly exceed the federal health standard…
A bill sponsored by a multitude of environmental justice groups, would cut the majority of oil and natural gas production in California. Coupled with environmental groups demanding Gov. Gavin Newsom ban new oil and gas drilling in California and completely phase out fossil fuel extraction, the goal is to put California’s petroleum industry out of business. As California Globe reported Monday, Assembly Bill 345 by Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance), requires all new oil and gas development or rework operations that is not on federal land, to be located at least 2,500 feet from a residence, school, childcare facility, playground, hospital, or health clinic…
A celebration of the ongoing partnership between the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA), Stockton’s vibrant community health and social justice organizations, and the City, to work towards achieving environmental justice in Stockton by sharing and disseminating information regarding environmental concerns and challenges, and by investigating and addressing enforcement and compliance issues affecting Stockton residents…
The “Keep it In the Ground,” anti-oil and gas industry movement is going after the industry with more legislation disguised to address health and local control issues, despite that California already has the most environmentally regulated oil and gas production in the world, regulated by more than 25 agencies. “Keep It in the Ground” is a global protest movement opposing fossil fuel development. California was the fourth-largest producer of crude oil among the 50 states in 2017, after Texas, North Dakota, and Alaska, and, as of January 2018, third in oil refining capacity after Texas and Louisiana….