By the end of last year, momentum to ban fracking was palpable. We felt it as communities passed laws on ballots and in legislatures, and as New York Gov. Cuomo banned fracking in his state. We've had some huge victories, but we won't stop until fracking is banned everywhere.
This week, that momentum will sweep through our state, where we are helping to plan the largest anti-fracking rally the state has seen — the March for Real Climate Leadership.
We need help to deliver 500,000 petitions to Gov. Brown to ban fracking.
A fracking ban in California would have positive implications for the country. As the third-largest oil producing state, California's actions affect the entire industry. If California stands up to Big Oil and Gas, it would help build on the momentum of New York's ban and push other states to do the same. A ban would asignificantly reduce the pollution coming out of California, which would mean cleaner air and water and lower global warming emissions.
We are partnering with other groups who care about this issue to collect signatures from people across the country. We'll deliver this petition to Gov. Brown on Saturday as we march through his hometown of Oakland, demanding that he be a true climate leader and ban fracking.
The story of fracking in California hits many of the same plot points of other states threatened by this extreme extraction technique:
- Fracking is contaminating the air of surrounding communities and causing health problems for the people who live near fracking operations.
- As California continues to suffer through a drought (like much of the Southwest), fracking is only making things worse — using millions of gallons of water and polluting it past the point of reuse.
- Homeowners have seen the land beneath their houses crack after fracking has started, much like neighborhoods in Ohio and Oklahoma where fracking has caused earthquakes.
- The methane and carbon dioxide fracking releases into the atmosphere are exacerbating the impacts of climate change, in California and throughout the country.
No matter where you live, no one's health, home or community should be threatened by fracking!
Much like the successful movement in New York, California has been building for a state-wide ban on fracking from the ground up, community by community. Californians voted last fall to ban fracking in San Benito County, we've passed local bans in cities like Beverly Hills. Last week we had another victory when Occidental Petroleum pulled its proposal to drill 200 new oil wells in Carson after more than three years of hard work and opposition from the Carson community.
We know these victories don't come easy. Each win takes petition signatures, phone calls, rallies, lobby meetings and the time and energy of hundreds of people who care about protecting their families, communities, health and homes.
This is about more than just California. This is about our future on a livable planet. This is about the fact that all of us have a right to clean water and clean air, and by allowing fracking and other forms of extreme extraction Gove. Brown is putting all of us at risk.
The momentum is growing, and we need everyone with us.
Ms.Lebharz, a California organizer for Food & Water Watch, may be contacted at act@fwwatch.org
