This year, APEN, CBE, CEJA, CRPE, PSR-LA lead the coalition to deliver a resounding defeat of the fossil fuel industry’s attempt to fight health and safety buffer zones from oil and gas at the ballot box. Today, Senator Lena Gonzalez led the California legislature to allocate $14.8 million dollars to state regulatory agencies to implement oil and gas setbacks across the state within the next three years. This landmark policy will finally provide the means to put SB 1137 into action, providing the the strongestest protections for communities living near oil and gas drilling in the country. After decades of advocacy from frontline environmental justice communities, this represents a tangible, solid step towards a clean energy future and away from the deadly health impacts of fossil fuels. a clean energy future and away from the deadly health impacts of fossil fuels. Currently, there are nearly 30,000 oil wells within a 3200 feet of of homes, schools, and other sensitive areas. This exposes 2.7 million Californians to toxic pollution, nearly 70% communities of color,resulting in devastating health impacts. Over half a million of those residents are children. The public demand for healthy communities is clear. CEJA is glad to see Governor
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We build the political power of communities of color to advance environmentally and socially just policies in California.
Read moreEnvironmental Justice Voter Guide 2020
CEJA Action is proud to release our 2020 Environmental Justice Voter Guide. Click here for our positions on a key statewide ballot measures and 14 candidate endorsements.
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Oppose AB 3121 (Petrie-Norris) – Utility bill breaks for the rich should not come at the expense of environmental justice and tribal communities
The Governor and Legislature are scrambling in the final hours of the legislative session to pass AB 3121 (Petrie-Norris) in an attempt to provide consumers and businesses negligible relief from rapidly escalating utility bills. In their haste, they’re planning to cut equity programs that provide greater utility bill relief to the very people who need it the most, low-income Californians including our state’s environmental justice and tribal communities. In response to the California Public Utilities Commission’s recent approvals of multiple utility tariff increases, legislators are proposing a one-time $30 bill credit (which is probably a small fraction of your ongoing bill increases). Where are they getting the money? By raiding funds from the Solar on Multifamily Affordable Housing (SOMAH) Program, Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP), and California Schools Healthy Air, Plumbing and Efficiency (CalSHAPE) Program. Both SOMAH and SGIP help low-income housing residents, families, and small businesses in disadvantaged communities generate and store their own energy and lower their energy bills, while providing workforce development and climate resilience. CalSHAPE funds critical heating, ventilation, and air conditioning improvements in schools as temperatures keep hitting record highs. All three programs are supported by a coalition of environmental justice, environmental, equity, solar, and industry groups.
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