A community-led campaign is working to end new permitting of oil and gas drilling and phase out existing drilling in Contra Costa County, with protective provisions for those fossil fuel workers whose jobs could be impacted.
We've made strides towards that goal, with city bans passed in Antioch and Brentwood. But in our climate emergency, we have no more time to lose.
If you want to learn more or find out how to get involved, join Sierra Club and youth activists for a webinar on Wednesday, July 13th at 11:00 AM. This online event will cover new and emerging threats in Contra Costa; what we know about the harm drilling does to our air, water, land, health, and climate; and what you can do to help advance our campaign to end oil and gas drilling in Contra Costa County.
Oil and gas drilling here in Contra Costa County is an urgent and evolving threat: in 2019, County planning staff approved oil drilling on Deer Valley Road just outside of Antioch, a half-mile from Dozier-Libbey Medical High School and Kaiser Antioch, and close to several residences. They did this knowing the well-documented dangers drilling poses to air quality and public health, and its contribution to a rapidly accelerating climate crisis.
A second permit application for oil drilling came to the County in 2020, for a site just a few hundred feet from homes in Brentwood. Astonishingly, County planning staff declared the project would have no negative environmental impacts, and it took a massive public outcry before they even agreed to perform an environmental review that is now currently underway.
Contra Costa needs to protect the health and safety of its residents and join the ranks of climate leaders who are blazing a path into an equitable clean energy future. Last year the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to ban oil and gas drilling. Now it's Contra Costa's turn.
We hope to see you at the online webinar on Wednesday, July 13th at 11:00 AM!