California’s fracking ban went into effect last month prohibiting this method of oil and gas extraction statewide. The state oil and gas regulator can no longer issue fracking permits for oil and gas wells effective Oct. 1.
This ban brings a multi-year regulatory process to a close.
“It’s a huge relief that the scourge of fracking is finally finished in our state,” Hollin Kretzmann, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, said. “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.”
Fracking or hydraulic fracturing is a technique used to fracture underground rock to release oil and gas.
The fracking ban was first announced by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September 2020 promising that his administration would end fracking permits by 2024 due to the health and safety harms to communities and workers. But the ban is said to be the result of a “decade of advocacy from frontline communities and public health and environmental groups that raised the alarm over fracking’s dangers,” a press release from the Center for Biological Diversity reported.
“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,” Kretzmann said. “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.”
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