LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Governor Gavin Newsom (D) traveled to Baldwin Hills to sign a bill regulating oil and natural gas facilities, removing the pumpjacks behind them and bringing an end to a century of oil and industry's role in the area.
AB2716 Closing the oil facilities in Baldwin Hills, which predates the residential development of the surrounding area and is now Los Angeles' most prominent middle-class black neighborhood.
AB3233 It would give local authorities more power to ban oil and gas drilling. 1866 Expands existing law to increase and expedite penalties for failing to cap idle wells within existing oil and gas production facilities.
Earlier this year, the oil industry abandoned an effort to put a referendum on the 2024 ballot to overturn the 2022 law. SB1137Buffer zones were created around schools and homes to limit oil and gas exploration and development.
Newsom was surrounded by community leaders and activists, including a doctor who said he suffers from health problems from living near oil and gas facilities and looks forward to the removal of the pumpjack “dinosaurs.”
In his speech, Governor Newsom slammed the oil and gas industry, accusing it of “price gouging,” a charge also made by Vice President Kamala Harris, D-Calif., in her economic proposal to combat inflation nationwide.
“They've been deceiving you,” Newsom said. “They've been exploiting you. They've been taking advantage of you. … They've been lying to you. … They're the toxic epicenter of this climate crisis. … This time, we won't fall prey to those lies.”
The oil and gas industry has previously countered these allegations, arguing that California's regulatory environment, not the industry, is to blame for high prices — an argument Newsom has rejected.
He noted that the California Legislature is scheduled to meet on Thursday to address rising gas prices in the state. (Governor Newsom has held such meetings before, but without revisiting the state's gas taxes, regulations, or cap-and-trade program.)
When asked by Breitbart News about the economic impact of the Baldwin Hills production facility's closure, specifically the impact on jobs, the governor dodged the question but said the same workforce responsible for operating oil and gas wells in general would also be responsible for sealing idled wells. The governor also said the state is creating jobs in the “clean energy” sector.
When asked by Breitbart News whether the fossil fuel industry had a future in the state, Governor Newsom responded, “If they improve their behavior.”
He said renewable energy sources give the state the promise of a “brighter, cleaner and greener future.”
A local reporter murder The incident on Wednesday morning was one of five that have happened on the Los Angeles Metro bus system so far this year, and local officials at the scene insisted that crime on the system is a “minuscule fraction” of crime in society.
Joel B. Pollack is executive editor of Breitbart News. Breitbart News Sunday It airs Sundays from 7:00pm-10:00pm ET (4:00pm-7:00pm PT) on SiriusXM Patriot. He is the author of the following books: Agenda: What President Trump Should Do in His First 100 Daysavailable for pre-order on Amazon. He also The Trump Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump's Presidencyavailable now on Audible. He is the recipient of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter. Joel Pollack.
