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 California’s 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