Online Petition to Governor Brown on Fracking

Dear {{ user.first_name|default:”Friend” }},

Yesterday, New York banned fracking beating out California in climate change leadership.¹

New York’s Governor Cuomo just announced he’s banning fracking, the highly toxic process of injecting water and dangerous chemicals into the ground in order to extract oil and gas. Fracking operations emit massive amounts of methane pollution, which drive global climate change.²

Yet Governor Brown, a self-proclaimed ‘climate change leader,’ supports fracking in California. He cozies up to the oil industry, that claims fracking is safe. But we know this is false — just ask the Latino residents of Kern County, the most fracked place in all of California. The folks who live there are starting to experience headaches, nosebleeds, rare cancers, and respiratory diseases associated with oil drilling and extraction.³

That’s why we’re calling on Governor Brown to drop the doublespeak. You can’t be a climate change leader and also support fracking. If New York can ban fracking, where skeptics said it couldn’t be done, then we can do it in California too.

Will you tell Governor Brown to use his executive authority to put a moratorium on fracking?

New York’s ban ups the ante for governors throughout the country, especially Governor Brown in California, to follow suit and do something about fracking as well.

There’s already a strong movement to kick fracking out of California. Thousands are rising up and pushing for local bans like in the cases of Santa Cruz where a permanent ban was recently approved and in Los Angeles where the City Council is moving fast to pass a moratorium. And last November, San Benito County approved a ballot measure to ban fracking.^{4, 5, 6}

You can bet that oil-sponsored corporate types are freaking out over what the ban in New York means. Groups like the Western States Petroleum Association, who continue to spend millions buying off our state leaders to expand fracking areas where Latinos live in high numbers, are thinking the same thing we’re thinking — California could very well be next in shutting down fracking once and for all.^{7, 8}

Let’s turn the oil industry’s worst nightmare into reality. Governor Brown was elected and re-elected with a large support from the Latino community in California. We can be the decisive voice again by calling on the Governor to place a moratorium on fracking. Nothing less than the livelihood of our families is at stake.⁹

Will you tell Governor Brown to use his executive authority to put a moratorium on fracking?

Thanks, and ¡Adelante!

Mariana, Arturo, Refugio, and the rest of the Presente.org team

P.S. Can you donate $5 to support our work? We rely on contributions from people like you to see campaigns like this through.

Sources:

1. Citing Health Risks, Cuomo to Ban Fracking in New York State, Citing Health Risks, The New York Times, December 17, 2014

2. REPORT: Five Major Health Threats from Fracking-Related Air Pollution, NRDC, December 16, 2014

3. California community invites Governor Jerry Brown to see a fracking field from the playground, Treehugger, May 28, 2014

4. Californians Aim to Halt Fracking Even If the State Senate Won’t, Desmog Blog, May 29, 2014

5. City Council Passes LA ‘Fracking’ Ban, CBS Los Angeles, February 28, 2014

6. San Benito County’s Measure J: Voters back anti-fracking plan, San Jose Mercury News, November 4, 2014

7. Oil Lobby Overpowers Voters To Kill Statewide Fracking Ban In California, ThinkProgress, May 30, 2014