California denied 21 oil drilling permits in July in the latest move toward ending hydraulic fracturing in a state that makes millions from the petroleum industry but is seeing widespread drought and more dangerous fire seasons linked to climate change.
State Oil and Gas Supervisor Uduak-Joe Ntuk sent letters to Aera Energy denying permits to drill using hydraulic fracturing in two Kern County oil fields to “protect public health and safety and environmental quality, including (the) reduction and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions.”
Aera Energy, a joint venture Shell and ExxonMobil, called the permit denials “disappointing though not surprising.”
“This is the latest decision attacking the oil and gas industry that is based solely on politics rather than sound data or science,” Aera spokeswoman Cindy Pollard said, adding that the company was evaluating its legal options.
“Banning hydraulic fracturing will only put hard-working people of California out of work and threaten our energy supplies by making the state more dependent on foreign oil,” she said.
“In the face of the effects of the climate emergency, the risks to everyday Californians are too high to approve these permits,” Ntuk said in emails to the Bakersfield Californian and the San Francisco Chronicle.
Gov. Gavin Newsom applauded the move, his office said. In April, Newsom directed the state’s Geologic Energy Management Division, or CalGEM, to develop a plan to stop issuing new fracturing permits by 2024 after a measure to ban the process died in the legislature.
Newsom also has ordered the California Air Resources Board to figure out how the state can end all oil production by 2045. Those decisions would make California the largest state to ban fracturing and likely the first in the world to set a deadline for ending oil production.