Fearless Grandmothers Tell Newsom: No New Drilling

Source: Society of Fearless Grandmothers, Santa Barbara

On June 14, 2022, the Society of Fearless Grandmothers-Santa Barbara joined activists across the state from Sacramento to San Diego to send Governor Newsom a simple message: SAY NO TO BIG OIL’S GREED!  Don’t allow corporate execs to exploit war and crisis for profit! No drilling in our neighborhoods!

The Grandmothers demonstrated at the Chevron station in Carpinteria, and at Exxon/Mobil stations in Santa Barbara and Goleta. 

BACKGROUND: Oil companies claim that more drilling will lower gas prices. 

But the truth is: More drilling WON’T reduce pain at the pump!

More drilling WILL enrich Fossil Fuel CEOs at our expense: Fossil fuel companies are taking advantage of Putin’s war against Ukraine by raising gas prices and raking in record profits to enrich their executives and investors. U.S. oil and gas producers could collect a windfall of as much as $126 billion in 2022. California’s own Chevron just announced that its profits have already quadrupled to $6.3 billion in just the first quarter of this year. 

More drilling WILL pollute communities: California’s scientists and public health experts know that fossil fuel pollution is a public health crisis that disproportionately hurts low-income, Black, Indigenous, Asian American, and Latinx communities. 22% of new drilling permits issued last year are located within less than a mile of neighborhoods, exposing millions of Californians to toxic pollution linked to asthma, respiratory diseases, cancers, and high-risk pregnancies.

More drilling WILL threaten a livable California: California is already ground zero for the climate crisis. Continuing to drill new wells and drill in neighborhoods could cause more than 425 million metric tons of carbon pollution – further fueling record-breaking wildfires, heatwaves, drought conditions, and threatening the livability of our state.

Follow the money:   Big Oil executives are spending MILLIONS to pressure California lawmakers to resist commonsense regulations and ramp up in-state production. In the past 3 months alone, fossil fuel companies have spent $6 million lobbying for polluter favors in California, with Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) and Chevron dumping more than $2 million into lobbying efforts. In the past four years, Big Oil spent almost $77.5 million to lobby the California State Legislature and other state officials. NOT TO MENTION the $8 million spent to defeat Ventura County’s Measures A and B in last week’s election.

THEY PROFIT, WE PAY: Fossil fuel pollution could cost Californians a total of $10 TRILLION in more destructive wildfires, worsening drought, air pollution, and premature deaths by 2045, according to a new report from Consumer Watchdog.


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  1. Unfortunately not. Many democrats believe that gas prices are not high enough. In fact, Joe Biden actually campaigned on the idea of driving up gas prices in order to force a “transition” to other forms of energy. However, among “old school” and moderate democrats the high prices are not so popular. It’s a bit of a divisive issue among democrats.

  2. Chip, quotes don’t fly with SB’s local director of propaganda for the progressive movement. We can be honest with ourselves and remember Biden campaigning on shutting down the oil industry for the great green transition, Sac cannot.

  3. “Joe Biden says “we are going to get rid of fossil fuels”” – yes, that’s what most Americans want. No one wants to rely on a dirty, polluting, disappearing resource forever.
    What’s your point? It’s “bad” to want to eventually end our dependency on fossil fuels?

  4. CHIP – where does Biden say he wants to “[drive] up gas prices in order to force a “transition” to other forms of energy?”
    Your little buddy has a lot of faith in you, don’t let him down! We’d all love to see where you have evidence for your claim that Biden WANTS the high gas prices. Come on, Chip, do it for Voice! He’s counting on you, big guy!

  5. “The big Oil Deal with OPEC Plus is done,” he tweeted. “This will save hundreds of thousands of energy jobs in the United States. I would like to thank and congratulate President Putin of Russia and King Salman of Saudi Arabia … Great deal for all!”

  6. The administration, however, won praise for supporting the oil industry. Bob McNally, an analyst at Rapidan Energy Group, told The Wall Street Journal, “President Donald Trump proved to be master of the deal.” Amy Myers Jaffe, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told The New York Times, “Hopefully, the American oil industry has avoided a worst-case scenario.”
    Yes, the deal is good for that particular sector. But there are a lot more Americans who buy oil and gasoline than there are people who produce them. Ordinary people will foot the bill for Trump’s dubious triumph.
    Most of the benefits, however, will go abroad, to the likes of Vladimir Putin and Mohammed bin Salman. That’s because Russia and Saudi Arabia have much lower production costs than oil companies that are fracking in West Texas and North Dakota.
    As University of California at Berkeley economist Severin Borenstein has noted, if it costs an average of $40 a barrel to produce oil here and $10 a barrel in Saudi Arabia, raising the world price to $50 a barrel will yield a nice profit to our producers and a huge one to the Saudis. But Americans will pay more for all the oil they use.
    https://epic.uchicago.edu/news/column-trumps-push-for-higher-gas-prices-is-misguided/

  7. Honesty, the good thing is… virtually everyone agrees Biden is a disaster. They also agree trump was a disaster. This is good… we can maybe hopefully possibly dream of advancing if we can all see and agree that both fringes are a disaster. Biden isn’t completely to blame for gas prices (Putin, Covid, etc)… but he certainly hasn’t helped. ..

  8. So these fearless grandmothers… they aren’t actually really thinking… which makes it hard to celebrate !!! We’ve wildly curtailed and discouraged new and continuing (non green) energy. Green energy is the future… but we need more (all) energy sources now… and for at least the next 20 years. What’s odd and bizarre is how some think we can end fossil fuels now… we can’t!!! We really really REALLY CANT! Biden is imploring Venezuela, Iran and Saudi Arabia to increase drilling and export. Hopefully all on here can see the humor and irony of us curtailing our own drilling as we plead with the human rights cemeteries nations of Venezuela, Iran and Saudi Arabia to help us… right???

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