A bill that would ban fracking in the state of California by 2035 was rejected by lawmakers on April 13.
The bill was introduced by Democratic state Sens. Scott Wiener from San Francisco and Monique Limуn from Santa Barbara. Initially, the legislation called for the ban by 2027, but they later changed the year to 2035. The bill was inspired by California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) announcement in 2020 to ban the sale of all new gas-powered cars by 2035. He also called on the Legislature to ban new permits for fracking.
“There is a large stain on California’s climate record, and that is oil,” Wiener said during a committee hearing on Tuesday. After the bill failed to advance out of committee, Wiener and Limуn said they weren’t giving up on the issue. “This issue isn’t going away,” they said. “We’ll continue to fight for aggressive climate action, against harmful drilling and for the health of our communities.”
