Stop Oil Wells Near Schools and Homes in Ventura County!

Ventura County is about to pass new oil and gas regulations that would put children and vulnerable communities at risk of cancer, asthma and pre-term births. Instead of enforcing a minimum setback of 2,500 feet between homes and oil & gas wells, like scientists and health professionals recommend, they are caving to the oil industry and lowering it to 1,500 feet.

Sign below to tell the Ventura County Board of Supervisors and the Planning Commission to enforce at least 2,500-foot oil well setbacks from both schools AND homes.

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Dear Ventura County Planning Commissioners,

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I urge you to increase the setbacks from oil and gas wells back to at least 2,500 feet from schools and homes, as originally stated in the draft General Plan.
 
Two new studies recently released found that living near oil and gas wells in California has significant, adverse impacts on pregnant mothers and newborn babies.

A study by UC Berkeley found that pregnant women in California who lived within 3,200 feet of active oil and gas wells are 40% more likely to give birth to low-birthweight babies.

Stanford researchers found that pregnant women living near oil and gas wells in California face a high risk of pre-term birth, the leading cause of infant death in the United States. Their research also shows that risks were highest for Latina and African American women.

These are the first two studies to use California-specific data to investigate the link between proximity to fossil fuel operations and birth outcomes. They were long overdue because two million Californians live within a mile of an active well and the state has the most annual births of any U.S. state. The studies are consistent with numerous studies in other states that likewise found a link between proximity to oil and gas drilling and poor birth outcomes.

Decades of unequal protections and regulatory failures have created sacrifice zones across the state and in Ventura County, by concentrating the health risks of oil operations in low-income communities and communities of color, where mothers and children face disproportionate burdens from multiple pollution sources.

The requirement for a 2,500-foot setback should not just apply to new wells, but also to the over 3,000 existing active wells out of 3,800 that are closer than 2,500 feet from currently defined “sensitive sites” and to the over 1,500 out of 2,250 idle wells that are closer than 2,500 feet to “sensitive sites."

We demand you protect our communities from neighborhood drilling and enforce at least a 2,500-foot setback from all new and existing oil and gas wells in proximity to schools and homes.

Sincerely,

[First Name] [Last Name]
[Your Address]