Newsom targets oil drilling over union objections
SAN FRANCISCO California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday announced a crackdown on oil and gas wells, a long-awaited move to protect public health that sets up a fight between environmentalists and labor unions allied with industry.
The governor's proposal which comes just weeks after an offshore oil spill that fouled stretches of the Southern California coast would require new wells to be more than half a mile away from neighborhoods, schools and other public areas. Officials said the policy would give California the strictest environmental standards in the country for fossil fuel extraction.
The announcement triggered a fiery response from one of the state's largest union umbrella groups: the State Building and Construction Trades Council, which represents some 450,000 plumbers, ironworkers, electrical workers and other skilled laborers and has been a key roadblock to environmental bills in the state Legislature.
We have a stockpile of foreign goods sitting in container ships up and down the coast a visual reminder of Californias overdependence on other countries, most with little to no environmental or labor standards," said Robbie Hunter, the group's president, in a statement.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/newsom-targets-oil-drilling-over-union-objections/ar-AAQ1W4s