As environmental groups celebrate victory in defeating an effort by the oil and gas industry to put on the ballot a measure that would overturn restrictions on oil drilling near communities, they launched a campaign Don’t be fooled to prevent Latinos from falling victim to drilling company scams.
“Today we celebrate this as a public health victory for all Californians living in the shadow of oil drilling. SB 1137 will take effect immediately, bringing us one step closer to ensuring that frontline communities can breathe cleaner air,” said Martha Dina Arguello, steering committee member of the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy California during the “Don’t Be Fooled” video conference, hosted by a coalition of environmental justice organizations across the state.
This coalition has just launched a new ad for its “Don’t Get Fooled” campaign to expose the lies and deceptive tactics of oil companies in Latino communities in California.
“Que No Te Engañen” was launched by Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles, the Central California Environmental Justice Network, Comité Cívicos del Valle, an Imperial Valley environmental justice organization, and the Latino Equity Advocacy & Policy Institute (LEAP).
The advertising campaign comes shortly after the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), one of the most powerful lobbying groups in the state, is launching its own media campaign targeting the economic anxieties of Latinos to slow the transition to clean energy in California.
Argüello, also executive director of Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles, He said that as a health organization, they realized that no one was studying and regulating the damage in the community.
“We knew from the beginning that we would have to do a lot of research, working with researchers from USC, UCLA and many others. And we also knew that our partner in the Central Valley, who we work with, is faced with living near oil drilling sites.”
He said they worked hard for ten years on organizing and mobilizing, doing the research, and every time a new study came out, they kept learning more.
“The more we learned, we realized that oil wells are not safe at those distances near where people live. That’s how our coalition was formed. In 2022, we won a major victory at the state level with the passage of SB 1137, which created statewide health and safety buffer zones around oil drilling.
To do this, he said, they had to present the body of evidence, with the stories of the people impacted, and they formed a multi-ethnic state coalition.
Argüello, who has been an activist since she was 17, said what moves her most is seeing how people have grown in the struggle and are still continuing because they live near the well drilling sites.
“I am 65 years old and some of our youngest campaigners are 15 and 20 years old, and with this campaign we are showing that ethnic communities can unite, fight and win.”
Nayamin Martinez from Central California Environmental Justice Network (CCEJN), said that residents are the experts on what happens in their community, living close to oil and gas facilities.
“Many of the health effects are seen in cancer, cardiovascular diseases and even the worsening of asthma and other respiratory conditions.”
He said they have witnessed and measured the poisonous gases that make the community sick, and that is why they began to document the health effects with the help of researchers such as David Gonzalez who gave a presentation on the impact suffered by pregnant women living near oil facilities.
“Another great ally is Dr. Rachel Morello, who exposed the effects of oil and gas emissions during drilling in the neighborhood to the entity that regulates these companies, and that was really a turning point for us as advocates,”
He noted that it was not just about the health effects of oil and gas drilling, but the economic impact.
We are beginning to receive data confirming this, in the face of clamor from companies saying they are going to declare bankruptcy, and that this is going to cost our state a lot of money.”
But on the other hand, he questioned what is the cost of all these people who get sick due to their practices?
“Deaths and all the emergency room visits for birth defects and cancer cost $11 billion a year in the Central Valley, while in Southern California it’s twice that, $22 billion. So that’s putting a number on the cost of health care for families.”
He said the health of our people should not have a price and should not be at risk due to the greed of oil companies that want to continue exploiting the state.
“We are here to put an end to their attempts to reverse the regulations that we have and that the state has put in place to protect their communities.”
Ruth Andrade from Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE) said Chevron in partnership with the Western States Petroleum Association is paying for the ad, and talking about the wonderful things they do for the community.
“Despite the regulations that are in place, these companies are still there, and they are still making record profits, and what they have done more recently, which is even worse, is that they have started using our own type of messaging, about health, justice, equity, and they use their own workers.”
However, he said if we start cleaning up those sites and repurposing them, jobs will also be created.
“What we would prefer the industry to do with all its money is to really support its workers through that transition.”
According to a report made in Los Angeles, there are around 300 workers working on drilling wells.
A recent poll found that 70% of Latino voters said they were angry that oil companies are funding human rights groups to lobby against climate policies.
Latinos are likely the demographic that has heard the most about the oil and gas industry’s efforts to mislead them about climate change and attempt to shift responsibility for the climate crisis away from oil and gas companies.