CA Youth Vs Big Oil 2021: A Year in Review
By Alex Masci and Sarah Ricci
In 2021, CA Youth Vs Big Oil was hard at work advocating for our Stop, Drop, and Roll demands to California officials. We want to highlight our members’ outstanding accomplishments alongside our allies.
SB 467
Following the defeat of Assembly Bill (AB) 345 in 2020, CA Youth Vs Big Oil worked alongside environmental justice leaders advocating for a new, more ambitious version of the bill, Senate Bill (SB) 467, in the state legislature. The environmental justice bill would have set an ambitious timeline to end dangerous new drilling and establish minimum distances, or “setbacks” between drilling sites and communities. We worked with partner organizations to lobby legislators directly, send numerous letters and public comments, and organize banner drops to raise public support for the bills. Unfortunately, like AB 345 before it, the bill was rejected in committee by legislators who have taken significant donations from the fossil fuel industry. Despite substantial opposition from California officials, we mobilized youth around the setbacks issue throughout the year, and those in power are finally starting to listen.
3200-foot Setbacks
After years of pressure from environmental justice leaders and allies, in October, Governor Newsom announced a historic draft ruling that would create 3200-foot health and safety setback distances between neighborhoods and fossil fuel drilling. This ruling issued by California Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM) acknowledges the harmful health effects of living next to fossil fuels and has the potential to protect millions of Californians from Big Oil’s pollution.
Along with dozens of other organizations, CA Youth Vs Big Oil members called, texted, emailed, and spread the word on social media urging Californians to send letters to California officials to demand strong setbacks that would cover new and existing fossil fuel drilling. We hosted three text banking meetings and a phone banking meeting with Greenpeace USA to encourage Californians to send letters. In addition, CA Youth Vs Big Oil members attended CalGEM public hearings and called on the agency to stand up to the fossil fuel industry and protect frontline communities. Collectively, Californians sent in over 64,000 letters in support of strong setbacks and CA Youth Vs Big Oil members contributed several hundred directly.
After years of environmental justice groups urging California officials to issue setbacks that establish environmental health and safety protections, this draft rule is a step in the right direction. CA Youth Vs Big Oil will continue to work with our frontline allies and leaders to advocate for the strongest setbacks possible, but we also recognize the historic win California communities have achieved. We want to extend our gratitude to everyone who informed Californians about the ruling and encouraged them to send letters supporting the health and safety of frontline communities and moving toward the end of fossil fuels in California.
March for Stolen Lives and Stolen Futures
Immediately following Newsom’s setbacks announcement, CA Youth Vs Big Oil marched with young people from across the state at the March for Stolen Lives and Stolen Futures in Sacramento. Youth and community leaders demanded that California decision-makers prioritize young people and frontline communities by divesting from deadly industries, not accepting money from Big Oil and police unions, and stopping new fossil fuel permitting. CA Youth Vs Big Oil coordinators Nithya, Alex, and Sarah called on Newsom to strengthen the setbacks rule, stop issuing fossil fuel permits, and end fossil fuel production in a just transition. On the morning of the march, one of our coordinators, Alex Masci, talked about CA Youth Vs Big Oil’s demands and youth perspectives on the climate crisis on the radio show, “A Rude Awakening with Sabrina Jacobs.”
School Resolutions
In spring, we launched our School Resolutions campaign to show the collective power of youth by passing formal resolutions in K-12 school districts and student senates at university campuses. Inspired by our friends at Youth V Oil in San Diego who passed the first of these School Resolution at San Diego Unified School District, we worked to build the campaign into a statewide force. The resolution has been passed at Sweetwater Unified High School District and UC Berkeley. Teams are working to pass the resolution at UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis, UC San Diego, Glendale Unified School District, West Contra Costa Unified School District, and Fremont Unified School District. We will continue organizing youth across the state to get as many resolutions passed that demand that the Governor take action on the climate crisis by ending the era of fossil fuels on timeline aligned with science and justice.
Banner Drops
CA Youth Vs Big Oil organized three banner drops to raise awareness about the public health, wildfire and climate crisis California’s fossil fuel industry is responsible for. On July 16th, we dropped banners all over California demanding that Governor Newsom protect people, not polluters. We stood in solidarity with the Westside community in Ventura County and the #StopSoCalGas campaign to stop the expansion of super-polluting gas compressor station. On August 11th, Los Angeles coordinators dropped a banner calling out Newsom for fueling the flames of the climate crisis and demanded that he protect our futures. Finally, on September 25th, teams across California dropped banners to highlight the deadly role fossil fuels have played in causing climate change and dangerous California wildfires.
Media
In 2021, our coordinators wrote three op-eds about the impacts of the fossil fuel industry on the climate crisis in California. Luchia Torro co-wrote “An Open Letter to LA City Council and Governor Newsom” that demanded California officials prioritize frontline communities by passing ambitious climate legislation instead of being influenced by the fossil fuel industry. Nithya Raghunath and Alex Masci wrote about their perspectives as young people experiencing wildfires perpetuated by the fossil fuel industry in their op-ed “Youth leaders call on Newsom to protect our future, not polluters.” And Nithya’s piece “Recall may be over but climate crisis is not — a youth perspective” emphasized that Newsom must take swift and equitable action on the climate crisis after retaining his position as governor in the 2021 recall election. In conjunction with these op-eds, we released a powerful video demonstrating the links between climate change, fires, public health, and the fossil fuels industry.
Social Media
In 2021, @cayouthvsbigoil reached over 1,000 followers on Instagram and nearly 600 followers on Twitter. We continue to develop our social media presence to connect with youth across California. We highlighted our monthly general meetings, posted about actions, and called our followers to action to show up to many virtual and in-person events. To keep up with CA Youth Vs Big Oil in 2022, follow us on Instagram, Medium, and Twitter!
Fellowship Program
Finally, at the beginning of 2021, we launched our all-new CA Youth Vs Big Oil Fellowship program in partnership with the Center for Biological Diversity and Central California Environmental Justice Network. The program offers youth leaders stipends and mentorship while they work with the Youth vs Big Oil network to fight the fossil fuel industry in California. This year, we welcomed eight youth fellows to the team: Lizbeth Ibarra and Bella Wash in the winter, Natalia Armenta and Nithya Raghunath in the spring, Luchia Torro and Sarah Ricci in the summer, and Alex Masci and Supriya Patel in the fall. We’re very excited to bring on new fellows in the new year so keep an eye out for our next call for applications!
Get Involved in 2022!
CA Youth Vs Big Oil will continue to pressure California officials to prioritize frontline communities and our generation over fossil fuels. We are proud of the work we have accomplished this year and we are excited to grow our network to involve more young people in the fight for our futures. Join us at our next general meeting on January 25th at 7 pm to learn how you can get involved!
