Campaign for a Safe and Healthy California Announces Major Endorsement and Contribution from Patagonia’s Holdfast Collective
SACRAMENTO – Today the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy California (CSHC) announced receiving an endorsement and $500,000 contribution from Patagonia’s Holdfast Collective, in order to KEEP THE LAW protecting California neighborhoods from toxic oil and gas drilling.
Big Oil has been working to repeal a law (SB 1137) that would make existing oil and gas wells safer by meeting tighter health and environmental requirements within 3200 feet of neighborhoods, schools, daycare centers and healthcare facilities, and keeping new wells from being built in these areas. To try and overturn this public safety law, oil companies have placed a deceptive measure on the November 2024 ballot.
From Ventura, Patagonia is one of California’s most recognizable homegrown businesses. Ventura is also one of the largest oil-producing counties in California, with more than 8,000 Ventura County residents living within a half-mile of an oil well who deserve to be protected from toxic oil drilling in their neighborhoods.
“There are many important debates happening about how to address climate change, but we should all be able to agree, at the very least, on community safety—especially when families and children are at risk,” said Patagonia CEO Ryan Gellert.
Nearly 30,000 oil and gas wells in California sit within 3200 feet of homes, schools, hospitals and other public areas, exposing more than 2 million people, disproportionally communities of color, to emissions that cause birth defects, respiratory illnesses and cancer. An independent scientific advisory panel in 2021 advised California officials that a 3,200-foot setback between oil wells and sensitive receptors is the minimum distance to protect public health.
“Big Oil’s deceptive campaign to try and undermine a new law protecting communities against toxic oil drilling is shameful, and they will stop at nothing to protect their bottom line,” says Darryl Molina Sarmiento, executive director of Communities for a Better Environment, a co-founding coalition member of Standing Together Against Neighborhood Drilling L.A. and the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy California. “That’s why our broad and diverse coalition, including youth and working families living next to neighborhood oil drilling, will work every day until the election to ensure that voters know how important it is for the health and safety of our communities to keep the law that establishes a 3,200 foot buffer zone from homes, schools and hospitals in place.”
“KEEP THE LAW” Campaign endorsers include public health groups, community and faith organizations, and environmental justice leaders from across California, working to hold oil companies accountable for creating a public health crisis, especially for communities of color.
Press Contact:Robin Swanson, robin@swansoncomm.net or Nicolette Velazquez, nicolette@swansoncomm.net