(Sacramento, Calif., April 23, 2021)—California Governor Gavin Newsom today directed the state Department of Conservation’s Geologic Energy Management (CalGEM) Division to stop issuing new permits for hydraulic fracturing – popularly known as fracking -- by January 2024. Newsom also ordered the California Air Resources Board to investigate how to phase out all oil extraction across the state by 2045.
“This is a move of seismic importance,” said Juan Altamirano, deputy policy director for Audubon California. “California’s size, economic importance and significant petroleum industry mean that this will reverberate around the world. This will accelerate our state’s journey towards net-zero emissions and make us a global example in slowing climate change. We need actions like the one announced today to combat the climate crisis we are living with. Nature, our animal species and our kids deserve a good future.”
Audubon California worked closely with the governor’s office on his executive order last year to set aside 30 percent of California’s open space for habitat conservation, climate resiliency and access to nature for underserved communities by 2030. The organization is currently sponsoring two related bills in the California legislature -- AB 30 (Kalra), which would establish access to nature as a basic human right under California law, and SB 322 (Laird), which would offer incentives to California ranchers to adopt “regenerative” practices that protect bird habitat and encourage the growth of carbon-sequestering native plants.
CONTACT:
Jason Howe, jason.howe@audubon.org; 415-595-9245
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About Audubon
The National Audubon Society protects birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow. Audubon works throughout the Americas using science, advocacy, education, and on-the-ground conservation. State programs, nature centers, chapters, and partners give Audubon an unparalleled wingspan that reaches millions of people each year to inform, inspire, and unite diverse communities in conservation action. A nonprofit conservation organization since 1905, Audubon believes in a world in which people and wildlife thrive. Learn more at www.audubon.org and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @audubonsociety.
