California oil industry drops high-profile ballot challenge to ban drilling near homes and schools

A California oil industry group said Wednesday it will withdraw an initiative from the November ballot challenging a state law that bans drilling within 3,000 feet of homes, schools and businesses.

Instead, the group said it would challenge the law in court.

“Energy freeze proponents can make baseless claims in the press and in paid advertisements, but they cannot make those claims in court without evidence,” Jonathan Gregory, president of the California Independent Petroleum Association, said in an announcement. “That is why we are switching from the referendum to a legal strategy.”

The announcement ends a costly campaign after oil industry groups raised more than $20 million to convince voters to overturn the law, prompting a high-profile defense from Gov. Gavin Newsom and celebrities including former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jane Fonda.

SB 1137, the 2022 law, banned new oil wells and oil extraction within 3,000 feet of homes, schools, businesses and other residential areas. It was immediately challenged by oil industry groups, who collected signatures for a ballot measure asking voters to repeal it.

The oil setback bill followed years of campaigning by environmental justice advocates seeking to reduce pollution in communities near wells. Industry opponents said it would threaten jobs, make California more dependent on foreign oil and drive up gasoline prices.

When the sector challenge came up for a vote two years ago, the law was shelved. According to environmental advocates, the repeal of the initiative now takes effect.

Members of the group opposing the oil industry ballot measure, a Campaign for a Safe and Healthy California (CSHC), celebrated the news Wednesday evening.

“Big Oil spent tens of millions of dollars trying to fool voters, using profits at the expense of community health, but it was no match for the groundswell of people power and community support we were able to rally across California,” Communities for a Better Environment Executive Director Darryl Molina Sarmiento said in a statement.

It is not uncommon in California for companies to try to hold referendums on laws affecting their industry, hoping voters will wipe laws off the books, or at least create years of delays before the law takes effect.

Nearly 3 million Californians live within 3,000 feet of a working oil or gas well, largely in Kern and Los Angeles counties. Medical research shows that people who live near water wells are at greater risk of asthma, respiratory diseases and some forms of cancer.

Environmental justice advocates have emphasized that many people who live near oil facilities are people of color. These groups celebrated CIPA’s withdrawal of their ballot as clear justification.

“This is an incredible victory for the environmental justice communities who began organizing and building this campaign 20 years ago,” said Mabel Tsang, political director of the California Environmental Justice Alliance.

“We beat them at their own game, by playing by their own rules. So it’s an incredible moment, not only for the people who live in their neighborhoods where oil is being drilled, but it’s also an incredible sign of what’s possible.”

This is a development story.