LA County and Mayor Eric Garcetti Announce Results of Transition Strategy for Oil Extraction Workers
LOS ANGELES — The County of Los Angeles and Mayor Eric Garcetti Dec. 10 welcomed the release of the just transition strategy – a first-ever framework for creating a pathway for workers in oil drilling to find new employment as the city and county begin phasing out oil extraction in Los Angeles.
The Board of Supervisors approved its ordinance to ban new oil drilling and phase out existing oil extraction in unincorporated Los Angeles on Nov. 4, 2022. In February, Mayor Garcetti signed a directive to phase out oil and gas drilling in the City of Los Angeles, and last week, the city council voted to phase out all oil drilling in L.A. and ban new wells. Mayor Garcetti signed the ordinance Dec. 10.
As part of the work to advance policies to phase out oil drilling, the city and county created the just transition task force, which is made up of stakeholders from labor groups, Tribal Nations, the oil industry, academic institutions, and state and local government entities, as well as environmental justice leaders and workforce development experts. The task force convened more than two dozen times in 2021 and 2022 to develop recommendations to:
- Provide oil extraction workers impacted by phase-out policies with the necessary support to transition their skills into jobs of comparable, family-sustaining compensation or retirement in ways that promote livelihoods and dignity.
- Properly remediate closed oil well sites and integrate input from frontline communities and sovereign Native Nations, on whose ancestral homelands Los Angeles is built, in community visioning, remediation and land use redevelopment planning processes; and
- Leverage public and private funds to equitably and sustainably finance and coordinate the successful implementation of the just transition strategy.
The recommendations include 19 specific strategies to achieve these goals, including the creation of a Workers Advisory Council to gather input and feedback from oil workers during the phase-out and solutions to ensure robust community participation in future land reuse planning. The full set of recommendations can be found here.
The Task Force will continue meeting quarterly to advise, guide, and support the county and city in the implementation of its recommendations.
RECAP: California’s Very Good Week for Climate Action
SACRAMENTO – It was a good week for anyone who cares about the environment.
- Holding Big Oil Accountable
- Largest River Restoration in American History
- First-Ever Offshore Wind Auction
- Strengthening Building Performance Standards
- Leading the Nation in Energy Efficiency
In just one week, California took multiple actions that will be felt for generations. Cleaning up the air, advancing clean energy, standing up to greedy oil companies and restoring 400 miles of the Klamath River and its tributaries.
Here are a few huge California climate wins from last week:
Gov. Newsom Announces the Price-Gouging Penalty
Gov. Newsom dropped by the Capitol on Dec 5 as the legislature reconvened, officially starting the special session to hold big oil accountable.
Following unexplained and unprecedented gas price hikes that led to record profits for Big Oil, Gov. Newsom and Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) unveiled a proposed price gouging penalty on oil companies’ excess profits to deter excessive price increases and keep money in Californians’ pockets.
Read the top 10 reasons for the gas price gouging penalty here.
First-Ever Offshore Wind Auction in California
Dec. 7 marked the first-ever offshore wind lease sale for America’s West Coast, a significant milestone in California’s transition to 90% clean energy by 2035. It was also the first U.S. sale in support of commercial floating offshore wind development.
California + White House = Dream Team
On Dec. 8, California joined the National Building Performance Standards Coalition, a White House-led initiative to accelerate cleaner, healthier and more affordable buildings across the country.
The first-ever Federal Building Performance Standard will cut energy use and electrify equipment and appliances in 30% of the country’s 300,000 existing federal buildings by 2030.
President Joe Biden launched the coalition in January, establishing a partnership of more than 30 state and local governments that will share results and best practices for delivering cleaner, healthier, and more affordable buildings while creating jobs, lowering costs and prioritizing frontline communities.
It’s About ‘Dam’ Time!
Gathering along the Klamath River Dec. 9, Gov.Newsom joined Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and leaders of the Yurok and Karuk tribes to celebrate the beginning of the largest river restoration project in American history, which will revitalize nearly 400 miles of the Klamath River and its tributaries.
This matters as a key phase as work begins to remove dams, improve river health, address declines in native fish populations and support communities in the Klamath Basin. This will restore access to hundreds of miles of habitat that has been unreachable for salmon and steelhead for more than a century and revitalize tribal communities and cultures for generations to come.
#1 for Energy Efficiency
For the second year in a row, California led the nation in clean energy standards and efficiency. According to the report, “California strengthened its commitment to decarbonizing its economy by 2045 with a sweeping legislative package of climate measures signed in 2022. It continues to set an example for other states with its leadership in building energy codes and vehicle emissions, and progress on energy efficiency in the utilities sector.