by: Shosanna Howard, Campaign Director, Students Against Fracking
“We, the undersigned Petitioners, hereby petition the Honorable Edmund G. Brown to use his emergency powers under the duties of the Governor’s office to protect Californians from imminent threats to public health and safety by implementing an immediate statewide moratorium on hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) and other forms of well stimulation.”
Last week, over a hundred health, environmental, and social justice organizations submitted an emergency petition to Governor Brown demanding he put an immediate moratorium on fracking until there is substantial research on the health impacts of the extraction process. California Student Sustainability Coalition is one of the groups that has signed on.
Governor Brown has thirty days, starting from February 26th, to respond to the petition. His decision could significantly shift the fracking and oil extraction industry in the state. Imagine, if Brown responds with agreement and imposes an immediate halt to fracking operations and creates a timeline for significant health and environmental studies to take place in the regions fracked most, such as Kern County, we could activate the masses and ensure fracking stops once and for all.
The ask is simple - study the consequences of the extraction process. Question why people, children, in Kern County are being diagnosed with cancer, asthma, and other ailments that those living far from stimulation wells are fortunate enough not to be experiencing. And let’s not forget, fracking wastes our precious water resources, turning clean water into poison, never to be used again.
This petition is not a symbolic gesture, it is an opportunity for Gov. Brown to be bold and courageous — this is a chance for him to stand up for the people and for the land we thrive from.
We wait, with baited breath for his response.