New oil drilling in California would put land, water, lives at risk | Opinion
“The Golden State” motto has come to symbolize California’s stunning natural landscape and bright future, which is exactly where Trump plans to plant his poison-producing, “drill baby, drill” oil agenda. The public comment period for the environmental impact statements of the Bureau of Land Management’s two Oil and Gas Leasing and Development projects closed March 13, and is currently under review by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Together, these projects propose leasing over 1.5 million acres of public land in California’s Bakersfield and Central Coast Field Offices to oil and gas companies for drilling. This is expected to result in as many as 77 new oil projects over the next 20 years, impacting lands near national parks and surrounding communities.
The Bureau of Land Management leasing our shared land to oil and gas companies not only robs generations of Californians of natural beauty, it also poses large-scale health risks.
Everyone loathes an oil spill. In Bakersfield, several farmers discovered a nearby oil well that had sprayed hundreds of gallons of oil and toxic chemicals onto their crops and land. The oil-covered trees in their orchard have never recovered, and family members are currently managing aggressive tumors, breathing issues and early loss of loved ones. Neither the oil company nor the county properly addressed the damages or loss of income caused by the spill.
This isn’t an isolated incident: This winter, California averaged more than 70 oil spills on land per month. Last December, in Monterey County, nearly 168 gallons of oil and 4,000 gallons of toxic wastewater were spilled. This was just one mile upstream from parts of the Central Valley drinking and irrigation water, near row crops and ranches.
Just as ocean spills are devastating to witness, equally impactful are the realities of our Californian farmers’ crops and animals covered in oil from toxic neighbors, our drinking water and soil contaminated with a myriad of chemicals and our children breathing poisoned air.
As a pediatrician, my priority is to advocate for the health of my patients, the children of California, and their families. Stanford scientists found that oil and gas wells emit toxic particulate matter, carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide, ozone and volatile organic compounds that can affect communities up to 2.5 miles away.
The Bureau of Land Management proposal authorizes oil wells to circumvent state laws that prohibit new drilling near homes, schools and parks. Children, especially those from low-income, Black and Latinx communities, are the most vulnerable to — and burdened by — toxic air exposures while their small bodies and lungs are developing.
In the East Bay, where I practice, many sources of air pollution, including oil wells near Concord, contribute to nearly double the rates of asthma diagnoses and attacks compared to the rest of California. My county is now included in the Bureau of Land Management’s proposed plan.
I worry about my patients, as well as the many other families in poor-air-quality regions that have had their health put up for sale.
While children face the greatest risk, this proposal also threatens to worsen Californians’ biggest environmental challenges: Not only do airborne particles from oil drilling contaminate and deplete nearby water sources, but the Bureau of Land Management also plans to allow hydraulic fracking (despite California’s statewide ban), which can consume 1.5-16 million gallons of water per well. The toxic and radioactive wastewater generated by these wells is injected deep underground, but frequently leaks, contaminating groundwater.
This wastewater contains high concentrations of arsenic, nitrate and thallium, all toxic to humans, and exposure can lead to cancer, liver damage and neurological symptoms. The estimated 650,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide this proposal will create over 30 years will increase the frequency and severity of wildfires across the state and locally.
Recent fears of rising gas prices may sound like a potential reason to look the other way and allow this irreversible damage to public land and public health to move forward; however, the oil that remains in California is generally heavy crude oil that is difficult and expensive to extract. And, in recent years, new wells have failed to decrease prices.
California has long been a paragon of environmental protection, and we take pride in the progress we’ve made in reducing pollution. We cannot allow the current administration to rob future generations of Californians of the clean air and water we have worked so hard to protect.
Now is the time for Californians to stand in solidarity to protect our precious lands and vulnerable neighbors by urging Newsom to stop Trump’s plans to pillage our public lands and pollute our skies, hills and valleys. We cannot allow our health to be sacrificed for oil industry interests.
Keegan Bowers is a graduating physician at the Kaiser Permanente Oakland Pediatric Residency Program, completing a Master’s in Public Health at UC Berkeley, concentrating on environmental health policy. He advocates for environmentally conscious policies to protect the health of his patients and all Californians through his work as an advocacy team leader at Climate Health Now.