SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 23,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Assembly Bill 3155 (Friedman),
which creates new financial liability for oil producers for harm
from community oil drilling, cleared its second policy committee
today and now moves to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. The
bill passed out of the Assembly Natural Resources Committee last
night by a vote of 7 to 3.
The legislation joins another bill for oil driller
accountability in the Appropriations Committee, AB 2716 (Bryan),
which requires committee drillers to pay a $10,000 per day fine for any well that produces
less than 15 barrels of oil per day.
64 environmental, consumer and public interest groups came
out for AB 3155, sponsored by Consumer Watchdog and the Center for
Race, Poverty and the Environment. Consumer Watchdog is also the
sponsor of AB 2716.
"If oil and gas companies are going to continue to endanger the
health of California residents, it
is only fair they pay the costs when those residents get sick," the
groups wrote. "We need AB 3155 to protect our most vulnerable
residents from our most powerful polluters. We believe oil
companies should be held accountable for the health harms they
cause."
AB 3155, authored by Assemblymember Laura Friedman and cosponsored by Senator
Lena Gonzalez, creates a liability
presumption for a respiratory ailment, a pre-natal defect, and a
person's cancer diagnosis if they lived for two years within 3,200
feet of an oil and gas production facility that failed to use the
most effective pollution control technology. Under AB 3155,
oil drillers could face penalties ranging from $250,000 to a $1
million. The oil well operator can rebut that
presumption if the person's health problems were caused in another
way, such as by genetics or another toxic exposure, or if they used
the best pollution control technology that is commercially
available.
More than 2.7 million Californians live within 3,200 feet of an
existing operational oil or gas well and that number will continue
to increase with the addition of new wells.
"This is a common sense bill. The health effects caused by oil
drilling cost American taxpayers $77
billion annually. It is time that the people causing that
harm and burdening taxpayers with that extreme cost pay for the
effects of their drilling," said Assemblymember Friedman. "Think
about it like this: if you're injured in a car accident, the person
at fault bears some financial responsibility for the damage they
caused. It should work the same when oil companies harm their
neighbors. The people living in these protected zones are being
injured and it is time that the responsible party incur their share
of the financial cost of that damage rather than expecting
taxpayers to foot the bill."
California is home to 101,000
actively producing, idle, and newly permitted wells that have not
yet become operational, according to FracTracker Alliance. Out of
that number, 26,000 are located within the 3,200-foot health
protective zone where millions of people live.
The scientific evidence shows that a direct link exists
between drilling, pre-term births, as well as respiratory illnesses
and cancer. AB 3155 builds on legislation, SB 1137 introduced by
Senator Lena Gonzalez and passed in
2022, that for the first time established a health protective zone
between communities and oil drilling, set at 3,200 feet. The oil
industry contributed more than $20
million to qualify a referendum on this November's ballot
that would overturn that law.
"Oil drillers think people living in these communities are
disposable, which is why they don't use the best pollution control
technology," Jamie Court, president
of Consumer Watchdog, said. "AB 3155 tells the drillers that if
they are going to drill in communities they better take every
precaution to do it as safely as possible or they will be
liable."
"The Center on Race, Poverty, and the Environment is thrilled AB
3155 has passed the Assembly Natural Resources Committee," said
Kayla Karimi, Staff Attorney for the Center on Race, Poverty
& the Environment. "We believe AB 3155 is pivotal to protecting
frontline communities in California. The cost of oil companies doing
business cannot be paid for in residents' health and their
subsequent health costs."
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SOURCE Consumer Watchdog