State legislation that would indirectly soften California’s tone toward in-state oil production cleared a significant hurdle this week, though it’s unclear whether the bill by state Sen. Shannon Grove will be able to avoid the fate of a similar attempt last year by the Bakersfield Republican.
The Senate Environmental Quality Committee voted unanimously Wednesday to pass Grove’s Senate Bill 15, which would require the California Energy Commission to identify the relatively low environmental standards and human rights abuses in countries the state imports oil from — a shot at Ecuador and Saudi Arabia, the No. 1 and No. 2 exporters of oil to California, respectively.
SB 15 would also force the California Air Resources Board to produce an annual report on greenhouse gases associated with transporting oil to California. That information would have to be posted online by the state’s top oil regulatory authority, the California Geologic Energy Management Division, if the bill passes.
Grove noted in a news release that California imports more than three-quarters of the oil it consumes at a time CalGEM is holding up drilling permits.
“Why would we import millions of barrels of oil from countries hostile to our values when we can produce the most climate compliant oil right here, by Californians for Californians?” Grove asked. She added that cutting imports and increasing domestic production would provide jobs while reducing the amount of money the state sends overseas.
SB 15 faces an uphill road in Sacramento, where the Legislature last year passed new restrictions on new drilling. Earlier this week, Gov. Gavin Newsom continued his years-long anti-oil campaign by signing into law a measure to hold oil refiners accountable for unjustified increases in gasoline prices.
The oil industry has viewed Grove’s bill as having little direct impact on in-state production but notes it would change the narrative in California by highlighting the notion exporting jobs and importing oil makes the state less energy secure and more dependent on foreign imports.
But environmental justice activists on Thursday slammed the legislation as doing nothing to promote human rights or improve environmental standards in California or overseas.
Community Organizer Maricruz Ramirez with the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment called SB 15 “a meaningless attempt to provide empty fodder to an increasingly desperate oil and gas industry as the state transitions away from fossil fuels.”
Western Program Coordinator Kyle Ferrar with FracTracker Alliance said by email California is well past its peak oil output, and he predicted production will continue to decline “regardless of new drilling.” He asserted the best way to diminish imports from the Ecuador or Saudi Arabia “is to transition to green energy and renewables,” adding that he “could get behind” a ban on oil imports from the two countries.
Environmental justice groups similarly took aim last year at Grove’s SB 1319, which would have required similar state reporting on greenhouse gases associated with California’s oil imports.
Before the bill died during the last session in the Assembly Appropriations Committee, the California Independent Petroleum Association championed it as a response to Ecuador’s continuing deforestation of the Amazon rainforest for the sake of expanding oil production, as well as an appropriate reaction to Saudi Arabia’s human rights record.
CIPA did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Newsom’s office declined Thursday to state its view of the bill, saying it will evaluate SB 15 on its merits if the legislation reaches the governor’s desk.
