After ramping up restrictions on new fossil fuel drilling in Los Angeles County two years ago, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law in September 2024 a Make Polluters Pay package of three bills regulating orphan oil and gas wells in BIPOC communities of LA County.
Here’s a look at the three bills and how they deliver environmental justice to LA’s BIPOC communities.
Oil and gas wells in Los Angeles
Currently, there are over 20,000 active, low-producing, or orphan wells in greater Los Angeles, endangering the health of residents. They may be potentially explosive wells leaking toxic or carcinogenic chemicals including benzene, arsenic, hydrogen sulfide, particulate matter, black carbon, and formaldehyde, as well as methane, a potent greenhouse gas that accelerates the climate crisis.
Los Angeles County is one of the most densely populated jurisdictions in the nation with approximately 10 million people. Nearly one-third of residents live less than a mile from an active well site. Some live within 60 ft. of an oil or gas well.
Mandatory setback rule
California recently passed a mandatory setback (buffer zone) rule for new oil and gas wells intended to protect residents in their homes, schools, child care settings, or medical facilities. It is 3,200 ft. Other states have had such laws for many years, if not decades. Unfortunately, this new rule doesn’t affect the location of existing wells in California.
The oil and gas industries attempted to put a referendum on the upcoming November 2024 ballot to repeal the setback rule, but ultimately decided to withdraw it from consideration.
“Big Oil saw what they were up against—and they folded, again. No parent in their right mind would vote to allow drilling next to daycares and playgrounds. This victory ends new harmful drilling in our communities and enforces common-sense pollution controls. This is a huge win for all Californians, especially the more than two million living within a half-mile of these operations,” said Governor Gavin Newsom.
A 2022 ordinance banned new oil and gas drilling in LA County, but neglected the hazards posed by the under-producing and abandoned—also called zombie—wells in the region until now.
California law: Assembly Bill 3233
A.B. 3233 gives local governments the authority to ban new gas and oil developments in their communities. This bill was written to circumvent courts from blocking ordinances limiting oil drilling—like those adopted by Monterey County residents or the Los Angeles City Council—on grounds that only the state has authority to ban drilling.
California law: Assembly Bill 1866
A.B. 1866 places tighter restrictions and higher penalties on idle (orphan) oil and gas wells. This law accelerates the timeline companies must follow with the goal of eventually plugging them to prevent further leakage. If companies do not adhere to these decommissioning requirements, they will be committing a crime.
Assemblymember Gregg Hart who authored this bill said: “I am proud of this decisive action we are taking today to hold the oil industry responsible for plugging over 40,000 idle oil wells across California. I want to thank Governor Newsom for recognizing the urgency of solving the idle oil well crisis in the state.”
California law: Assembly Bill 2716
A.B. 2716, written by Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, bans the operation of low-oil production oil and gas wells in the Baldwin Hills Conservancy located atop the Inglewood oil field which is the largest urban oil field in California sprawling across 1,000 acres. These wells produce only three barrels of oil on average per day.
This law also imposes a $10,000 per month penalty on these wells until they are permanently decommissioned. Penalty funds collected under this law will pay for community projects like park creation.
“Today, with Governor Newsom’s signature, we will finally shut [the Inglewood oil field] down and establish the state’s first repair fund for the frontline communities who have been organizing for years to be seen, heard, and protected,” stated Mr. Bryan.
Environmental racism in Los Angeles County
A.B. 2716 is notable because it specifically calls out the health risks associated with orphan wells and endured disproportionately by communities of color. This disproportionate arrangement exists in other communities in California, too.
Further, 84% of wells in California are located in “medically underserved areas or populations.” This means people sickened by oil and gas wells live in communities where they are already disproportionately lacking access to health care.
The bill reads in part: “These impacts are disproportionately impacting Black, Brown, and Indigenous people…who are most likely to live in close proximity to oil extraction activities and who are the most vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change.”
County health officials say that wells in mostly white Beverly Hills are under stricter regulation compared to those in Baldwin Hills, Ladera Heights, and View Park/Windsor Hills, some of the most affluent Black communities in the nation where residents suffer disproportionately from poorly regulated oil and gas wells.
A 2023 study showed that “…the proportion of Black residents living near active wells was 42%–49% higher than the proportion of Black residents across California, and the proportion of Latinx residents near active wells was 4%–13% higher than their statewide proportion… Disparities were greatest in areas with the highest oil and gas production, where the proportion of Black residents was 105%–139% higher than statewide.”
Health effects of living close to oil and gas wells
A growing body of research reveals that the harmful pollution emitted by oil and gas wells puts people who live near them at greater risk for asthma, decreased lung function, spontaneous preterm births, heart disease, and cancer.
The reduced lung function and wheezing is similar to daily exposure to secondhand smoke or living beside a major highway, according to a recent study. Heavy nosebleeds are also common.
“These impacts raise environmental justice concerns about the effects of urban oil drilling. Reducing emissions, increasing the distance between oil operations and residents, and investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency measures that reduce reliance on fossil fuels overall could protect the lung health of residents near oil wells,” Jill Johnston, an author of the lung function study, said.
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