Email CalGEM, with a history of fossil fuel favors, has millions of Californians still waiting for public health protections
In this second installment of a series profiling some of the many ways that the fossil fuel industry exerts pressure across California’s government, we look at how the fossil fuel friendships inside one regulatory agency have corrupted its mission to protect public health and our environment.
The California Geological Energy Management Division (CalGEM) of the California Department of Conservation is a fairly obscure government agency for most Californians, and its Supervisor Uduak-Joe Ntuk is generally not a household name. But both the agency and its supervisor’s decisions impact the health of millions of Californians and the environment. CalGEM has responsibility for the oversight of the oil and gas industry; however, it has a long legacy of cozy ties to fossil fuel interests including years of controversies of weak enforcement and close relationsh
Context
There is at least one true story about Elvis Presley and a blind girl, but this isn t it.
Origin
If you’re an Elvis Presley fan with a social media account, you’ve probably come across a story about an interaction between “The King” and young blind fan.
In short, this viral anecdote claims that during a concert in 1975, Elvis was informed that there was a blind girl in the crowd. The musician stopped the show to bring the girl up on stage where they had a heartfelt exchange. After the show, Elvis was so moved by the little girl’s story that he gave her a $50,000 check and a concert ticket (plus travel expenses) to every one of his future shows.
I m not interested.
But Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot said the riskiest process related to fracking is the drilling of new wells, and that will stop in 2024. Existing permits for wells must be used within one year, he said.
“Those wells that have been fracked presumably will continue to produce oil in coming years. But the impact or the activities that we’re concerned about, which is essentially the violent explosion of chemicals through the subsurface, will end,” he said. “Period. Full stop.”
Fracking a well “involves actually one specific time limited event. Think about this as essentially shooting down a cocktail of chemicals and sand and water and sometimes acid underground, in a fairly violent way that fractures the subsurface,” he said.
Not good enough : Some progressives unsatisfied with Gavin Newsom s fracking ban
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a news conference after touring the vaccination clinic at City College of San Francisco on April 06, 2021 in San Francisco, California. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
After California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday he will use executive authority to force the state to stop issuing oil fracking permits by 2024 and end all drilling by 2045, some climate activists took exception to Newsom s timeline.
Fracking, or the practice of injecting liquid at a high pressure into underground rocks to force them open and extract oil, is widely considered to be harmful to the environment, and Newsom has faced pressure from climate activists to end the practice since taking office.
Californiaâs Wildfire Season Looms. Regenerative Agriculture Could Offer Hope.
People watch the Walbridge fire, part of the larger LNU Lightning Complex fire, from a vineyard in Healdsburg, California, on August 20, 2020.
Josh Edelson / AFP via Getty Images
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This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.
When Alexis Koefoedâs farm burned for the first time in 2008, she and her husband, who made a living raising pasture-grazing chickens at the time, lost 1,000 baby chicks and a brand-new barn. âI thought there could never be anything worse than this experience, until it happened three more times,â she said.