By Jacob Klein, Chapter Organizer
In the midst of shelter-in-place, Contra Costa County is poised to approve an application to drill three exploratory wells and one permanent rig in unincorporated Brentwood. The discovery of this hazardous fossil fuel extraction proposal came unexpectedly as many people have been focused on essential life duties and care.
Indiana-based Powerdrive Oil and Gas wants to drill on a site south of Heidorn Ranch Road and Old Sand Creek Road, within 1,100 feet of homes. Powerdrive and the Contra Costa County Department of Conservation and Development have issued an intent to adopt a proposed negative declaration. This means they believe that there would be no significant environmental or public health impacts and are not planning to do further environmental impact research.
This flies in the face of a growing movement across the state for 2,500-foot setbacks for communities from oil and gas wells. These setbacks are intended to support public health as oil and gas wells have been linked to increased risk of asthma, cancer, respiratory illness, fetal harm, and more. Sierra Club has been on the frontline of this campaign to tell officials: No more drilling where we’re living.
Perhaps most distressing, local communities were unaware of this proposed project until last week. Residents of the neighboring communities have only just begun to find out thanks to the work of activists. The public comment period was supposed to close on May 19th, but public pressure in the last few days has won an extension through June 9th. We now have a small window of opportunity to have our voices heard.
In the midst of a shelter-in-place instituted due to a pandemic, this proposal nearly slipped under the radar. We are learning more and more about the links between air pollution and COVID-19. Now more than ever we have to fight for our community’s right to health. We can’t have business as usual shuffling fossil fuel projects in during a global crisis.
What You Can Do:
We must act now. This project has the potential to cause serious community harm every step of the way and as such must be stopped. Use our online action form to let Contra Costa County know that they must deny the proposal and stop allowing new fossil fuel extraction projects.