Campaign for a Safe and Healthy California Announces Broad and Diverse Coalition in Support of Referendum Campaign to Keep the Law Protecting Neighborhoods from Toxic Drilling

SACRAMENTO – On the heels of Governor Newsom Signing AB 421 on Friday, which will allow voters to choose whether to “uphold” or “overturn” historic legislation preventing toxic oil drilling near schools, hospitals and neighborhoods, the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy California (CSHC) announced a broad and diverse coalition united to uphold the law. 

“We must pass the referendum in November to protect children, seniors, and our families in frontline communities of color who have historically been harmed by the devastating effects of toxic oil and gas drilling near our homes, schools, parks, and places of prayer,” said Mabel Tsang, Political Director of California Environmental Justice Alliance and CEJA Action.  “We must stop the abuse of the Oil Industry on our democracy and empower California’s voters to pass the referendum to serve another resounding yes for health and safety protections from oil and gas drilling in our neighborhoods."

“This broad coalition has the power to defeat the oil industry’s attack on commonsense health protections, and we’re just getting started,” said Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute. “For too long, Big Oil has wreaked havoc on our air, water and climate. Next November, California voters will have the chance to uphold California’s historic health and safety buffer law and finally protect communities from toxic oil drilling.”

“Oil and gas industries cannot continue robbing Californians of their health for profit. We are unwavering in our commitment to prevent Big Oil from harming the well-being of our communities. Our goal is to safeguard the health and safety protections that public health and environmental justice advocates have fought so hard to establish," said Martha Dina Argüello, executive director of Physicians for Social Responsibility-LA. "We must pass the referendum for the sake of frontline communities and health professionals who have and continue to bear the burden of proving harm from oil extraction."

"This referendum is one of the many examples of oil and gas companies trying to exert power and influence to corrupt democratic decision making. Don’t be fooled by marketing gimmicks. Oil and gas companies are raking in record profits while announcing layoffs left and right, all while talking about the need to protect jobs from the people exercising our right to clean air, water, and land. The true threat is greed. Fossil fuel executives know a reckoning is coming, so they're trying to hold on to any limited power they have left, but we trust the voters of California to support us in this fight to protect our public health and ensure the referendum passes, " said Riddhi S. Patel, Economic Development Coordinator with the Center on Race, Poverty, & the Environment. " If the rich fossil fuel executives aren't scared already, they should be. Hot Labor Summer ends but Find Out Fall is just beginning."

"Now that AB 421 has been signed into law, voters can confidently be part of history when they vote to end neighborhood oil drilling by upholding SB 1137," said Darryl Molina-Sarmiento, Executive Director of Communities for a Better Environment. "SB 1137 is long overdue and will protect those who have been dealing with the brunt of the pollution from neighborhood oil drilling. Far too many lives have been lost and impacted by senseless regulations that allow Big Oil to keep drilling right outside of someone's bedroom window."

"Big Oil has waged a violent attack on our communities in the form of neighborhood oil drilling," said Janette Robinson Flint, Executive Director, Black Women for Wellness. "As a reproductive justice organization committed to the health and well-being of Black women and girls, we refuse to stand by and allow future generations of our communities to suffer and bear the disproportionate burden of poor health outcomes that, among other things, include asthma and infertility, while oil companies rake in profits. The passage of AB 421 makes significant strides to safeguard and maintain the integrity of our state's democratic process. This means that voters will have the opportunity to stand on the side of justice, fight alongside frontline advocates, and imagine a world outside the deathly shadow of Big Oil by voting to uphold the landmark provisions of SB 1137."

Below please find a list of campaign endorsers:

1000 Grandmothers for Future Generations
350 Bay Area Action
350 Conejo / San Fernando Valley
350 Corvallis
350 Humboldt
350 Long Beach
350 Marin
350 Petaluma
350 Sacramento
350 San Diego
350 Santa Barbara
350 Ventura County Climate Hub
Active San Gabriel Valley
Alameda County Democratic Party
Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments

Asian Pacific Environmental Network
Ballona Wetlands Institute
Ban SUP (Single Use Plastic)
Bay Area System Change Not Climate Change
Biofuelwatch
Breast Cancer Action
California Central Coast Climate Justice Network
California Climate Voters

California Environmental Justice Alliance Action (CEJA Action)
California Environmental Voters
California Green New Deal Coalition
California Interfaith Power & Light
California Nurses for Environmental Health and Justice
California Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
Californians Against Waste
Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice
Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment
Central California Asthma Collaborative
Central California Environmental Justice Network
Central Coast Climate Justice Network
Central Valley Air Quality Coalition
CERBAT
Citizens’ Climate Lobby Santa Cruz
Clean Water Action
Climate 911
Climate Action California
Clean Earth 4 Kids
Climate Equity Policy Center
Climate First: Replacing Oil & Gas (CFROG)
Climate Hawks Vote
Climate Health Now
Climate Justice Ministry Team, Mt. Diablo Unitarian Universalist Church
Climate Reality Project: Monterey Bay CA Chapter
Climate Reality Project: San Fernando Valley Chapter
Climate Reality Project: Silicon Valley Chapter

Climate Tzedek - Congregation Netivot Shalom
Coltura
Conejo Climate Coalition
Consumer Watchdog
Corvallis Climate Action Alliance
Corvallis Interfaith Climate Justice Committee
Courage California
Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action
Defend Ballona Wetlands
Democrats of Rossmoor
Ecology Center
El Pueblo Para el Aire y Agua Limpia de Kettleman City
Elders Climate Action, NorCal
Elected Officials to Protect America (EOPA) - Code Blue
Environmental Defense Center
Environmental Democrats of Sacramento
Environmental Working Group
Esperanza Community Housing
Extinction Rebellion & Mothers Rebellion-Sacramento
Extinction Rebellion Los Angeles
Extinction Rebellion San Francisco Bay Area
Families Advocating for Chemical and Toxics Safety

Food & Water Watch
Fossil Free California
Fossil Free UCD (UC Davis)
FracTracker Alliance
Friends of the Earth Action
Glendale Environmental Coalition
Grandparents in Action
Green Team, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Marin
Hollywood Climate Summit
Holman United Methodist Church 
Human Impact Partners
Indivisible Alta Pasadena
Indivisible CA Green Team
Indivisible Marin
Indivisible Northridge
Indivisible Santa Cruz County
Indivisible San Jose
Indivisible Ventura
Indivisible Yolo
Long Beach Gray Panthers
Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust

Los Padres Forest Watch
Manhattan Beach Huddle
Marin City Climate Resilience and Health Justice
Marin Interfaith Climate Action
Monterey Bay CA Chapter Climate Reality Project
Mothers Out Front
No Drilling Contra Costa
North County Watch
Novasutras
Ocean Conservation Research
Oil and Gas Action Network
Oil Change International
Oil Change US
Pacific Environment
Pacifica Climate Committee
Pacoima Beautiful
Pelican Media
Physicians for Social Responsibility/Los Angeles
Physicians for Social Responsibility/Sacramento
Physicians for Social Responsibility/San Francisco
Planning and Conservation League

PODER (People Organizing to Demand Environmental & Economic Rights)
PolicyLink
Presente.org
Redeemer Community Partnership
Rise Economy (formerly California Reinvestment Coalition)
Rising Sun Center for Opportunity
Rooted in Resistance (Indivisible)
RootsAction.org
San Francisco Baykeeper
San Francisco Marin Medical Society
Santa Barbara Standing Rock Coalition
Santa Cruz Climate Action Network
Save Our Shores
Save the Albatross Coalition
SEE (Social Eco Education)

Sierra Club California
SoCal 350 Climate Action
Social Justice Ministry, Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Congregation
Society of Fearless Grandmothers-Santa Barbara
Stand.earth
Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education 
Sunflower Alliance
Sunrise Movement LA
Surfrider Foundation
Sustainable Mill Valley
Sustainable Rossmoor
The 5 Gyres Institute
The Children's Partnership
The Climate Alliance of Santa Cruz County

The Climate Center

The Last Plastic Straw

The River Project

The Wilderness Society

Transition Sebastopol

Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Marin

VISIÓN (Voices in Solidarity Against Oil in Neighborhoods)

Vote Solar

Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club 

West Berkeley Alliance for Clean Air and Safe Jobs

Wishtoyo Foundation

Yellow Dot Studios

Youth Climate Strike Los Angeles

Youth v. Oil 

For more information about our campaign, please visit our website at: www.CAvsBigOil.com