Two weeks ago, I had the bittersweet pleasure of getting a tour of Kern County with my friends at
Center on Race, Poverty, and the Environment. We took a full day tour of schools, residential areas, and agriculture fields. What they all had in common? Having fracking wells right next to them.
The oil “boom” we are on the cusp of in California is a terrifying thing to see firsthand. Standing next to an elementary school when you can feel your nose about to bleed is not the kind of boom Californian’s are looking for. Fracking for oil in California is start to finish dirty business. We can see weak regulation not being enforced, overburdened communities being poisoned, and after all the oil has been extracted, we are burning more carbon that our fragile climate can’t take.
Over Governor Brown’s career as a politician he has sworn a dedication to protecting ALL Californians and our climate. While allowing fracking to continue with weak regulation goes completely at odds to his legacy as a climate champion and a man voted to protect communities.
In Shafter, California we walked through almond groves, potato fields, and chicken coups, we could see pits of unlined waste from fracking wells. We could even walk right up to the fracking rigs and touch them. This is California’s “strongest regulation on fracking” in effect. Since January 2014, emergency regulations took place as the state tried to study the effects of fracking and in May 2014, we can still see this incredibly dangerous practice is still not being regulated. For more photos of our tour click here: 350.org/kerncounty
It’s hard to say what was the most striking moment about our our time in Kern county. Hearing stories of children getting sick, undrinkable water, and undetected pipeline bursts, it’s almost impossible to say what the hardest thing to see was. I will say though, the backdrop of dry rivers, signs to pray for rain, and unseeded farms felt gloomily foreshadowing of what’s to come in California because of climate change.
After heading back up North to home, I remember thinking that if the country’s strongest regulation of fracking can’t stop unlined pits of toxic cancerous water from leaching into almond fields, what will? How are we going to protect these communities from cancer, respiratory disease, birth defects, and climate related death? How are we going to protect all Californian’s from lack of water and dry seasons?
The Governor and his administration still hold on to the thought that regulation can fix everything. When it comes down to it though, even if this industry is regulated (though we know that is weakly enforced), California still can’t handle any more oil or gas being burned. We are in the worst drought in recorded history in California. Impacts of climate change are being seen every day in California and across the world. For California and Governor Brown to remain leaders on the climate, we must place a moratorium on fracking and transition to clean, renewable, community based systems of energy.
The community’s in Kern County have been overburdened for far too long. They are bearing the brunt of both climate impacts (job loss, illness, the worst air pollution in the country) and impacts of fracking literally next door to their elementary schools. This is why we are asking the Governor to take leadership, for a moratorium to be placed on fracking, and for the Governor to come to Kern and see for himself what his regulation is doing to communities.