Gavin Newsom’s administration announced a phase-out of fracking by 2024, and in October proposed a rule instituting 3,200 feet of space between new oil wells and homes, schools and other sensitive spaces. His district encompasses or sits near three oil fields, including the Placerita oil field, the Cascade oil field, and the Aliso Canyon oil field, which collectively produced almost 600,000 barrels of oil in 2020.Įarlier this year, Gov. The bill would likely have had a direct impact on the health of Hertzberg’s constituents. Environmentalists have said this measure is necessary to protect public health, as proximity to oil and gas drilling has been linked to numerous illnesses.
would have established a planning goal for the state to phase out all oil and gas drilling,” explained Melissa Romero, legislative affairs manager for California Environmental Voters. It “would have established health and safety buffer zones between oil and gas drilling facilities and sensitive sites like homes, schools, health care centers etc. Susan Eggman (D-San Joaquin), killed the bill. Ben Hueso (D-Imperial Valley) and a no from two Republicans and Sen. His abstention, along with an abstention from Sen. In April, Hertzberg rankled environmentalists after a meeting of the Senate’s Natural Resources and Water Committee, when he declined to vote on SB 467, a bill that proposed to phase out extreme oil and gas drilling techniques and enact regulations limiting where companies could extract fossil fuels. Hertzberg defended his climate bona fides in an email to Capital & Main and called attention to his support for the state’s budget, which allots billions for electric vehicles, drought management and wildfire relief and prevention. He supported a dozen climate bills this year, but three bills that he failed to support were among the most significant pieces of environmental legislation this past session. He declared that he was attending COP26 “with an eye toward innovation and entrepreneurship that will drive our state’s economy for generations to come.” In public statements, Hertzberg has affirmed the need to address climate change. He is the Senate majority leader and the highest ranking state legislator attending COP26 aside from Speaker of the California State Assembly Anthony Rendon (D-Los Angeles County). Bob Hertzberg represents a section of the eastern San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County. But one legislator’s abstentions on key bills stood out. Nearly all of the bills were opposed by the state’s powerful oil and gas industry.įor the most part, the legislators supported every piece of legislation, whether in a legislative committee hearing or a floor vote in either the Assembly or Senate. Josh Becker (D-San Mateo County), was to leave the conference with a “shared sense of momentum and a shared sense of ideas.”Ĭapital & Main examined the voting records of the California delegates on 23 different bills in the most recent legislative session, all of which proposed regulations on the oil and gas industry or measures that advance climate preparedness and environmental justice. Their purpose for going, according to one legislator attending, state Sen. This story is produced by the award-winning journalism nonprofit Capital & Main and co-published here with permission.Įlected officials, scientists and others from around the world gathered in Scotland for the COP26 climate summit, the annual event hosted by the United Nations to find common ground on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but they’re facing a stark reality: Emissions have risen 60% globally since the first COP in 1995, and past failures to confront the climate crisis have become increasingly obvious and unavoidable.Īmong the thousands of attendees are 15 state legislators from California, all Democrats. Bob Hertzberg declined to vote on bills that would have enshrined new regulations in the law. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on Pinterest Sen.