SACRAMENTO, CA – Senator Melissa Hurtado (D-Sanger) released the following statement today, after Governor Newsom signed an Executive Order banning hydraulic fracturing:

“The Governor’s actions could not come at a worse time for the Central Valley, which is already reeling from a drought that – together with this decision – may cause a national food crisis. Energy makes up 19 percent of the American food supply chain. Make no doubt the cost of food will increase and severely impact the health of vulnerable communities who are already struggling. We cannot repeat the food crisis of 1974. The potential consequences of a food crisis extend beyond the Central Valley and California. We can all do better and be part of the solution.”

In December Senator Hurtado introduced Senate Bill 25, to protect quality jobs and improve California’s oil and gas regulatory system.

Another of Senator Hurtado’s bills – the Orphan Wells Equity and Remediation Act (SB 84) – requires enhanced reporting relative to hazardous, long-term idle and orphan wells. A majority of the state’s oil and gas development occurs in the southern Central Valley. A large portion of idle wells have not produced oil and gas for at least two years, and have not been “plugged and abandoned”—meaning that they have not been capped to prevent polluting emissions. Idle wells can easily become orphan wells if the insolvent operators desert them. This creates a risk of shifting liability for decommissioning the wells to the state.

Media Contact: Michelle.Sherwood@sen.ca.gov

About Senator Melissa Hurtado

Senator Melissa Hurtado represents a new generation of Latina leaders as the youngest woman ever elected to the California State Senate and a product of immigrant parents. Senator Hurtado represents the 14th Senate District and focuses on rural community issues that often go unheard — access to clean air and water, food insecurity and poverty, inequities in environmental policies, agriculture and access to health care. In July 2020, she was appointed to the national Biden Latino Leadership Committee alongside former Labor Secretary and current Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis – the only two California Latinas on the Committee.

For more information, visit Senator Hurtado’s Website here or find her on Twitter at @Senator_Hurtado

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