California Nurses Association Stands with Campaign for a Safe and Healthy California in Working to KEEP THE LAW Protecting Schools from Toxic Drilling
SACRAMENTO, CA – Today the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy California announced an endorsement from California Nurses Association (CNA) which joins a growing list of more than 400 California organizations, nonprofits, elected officials, and neighborhood leaders supporting the campaign, united in an effort to KEEP a historic law (SB 1137) preventing toxic oil drilling near schools and in neighborhoods.
CNA is a premiere organization of registered nurses and one of the nation’s fastest growing labor and professional organizations in the U.S. with more than 100,000 members in more than 200 facilities throughout California. Toxic oil drilling in California communities is a serious threat to public health, particularly affecting nurses who work in healthcare facilities next to gas and oil drilling.
"California Nurses Association proudly stands with the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy California because toxic drilling near hospitals, health care facilities and neighborhoods puts our patients’ health at risk including an increased risk of asthma, cancer and other devastating health impacts,” said Michelle Gutierrez Vo, CNA President. “We will work tirelessly with the campaign to KEEP THE LAW that requires a 3,200 foot buffer zone between drilling and places where we live, work and play for the health and safety of our communities.”
Big Oil has been working to repeal a law (SB 1137) that would make existing oil and gas wells safer by meeting tighter health and environmental requirements within 3,200 feet of neighborhoods, schools, daycare centers and healthcare facilities, and keeping new wells from being built in these areas. To try and overturn this public safety law, oil companies have placed a deceptive measure on the November 2024 ballot.
Nearly 30,000 oil and gas wells in California sit within 3,200 feet of homes, schools, hospitals and other public areas, exposing nearly 3 million people, disproportionately communities of color, to emissions that can cause birth defects, respiratory illnesses and cancer. An independent scientific advisory panel in 2021 advised California officials that a 3,200-foot setback between oil wells and sensitive receptors is the minimum distance to protect public health.
“KEEP THE LAW” Campaign endorsers include health groups, community and faith organizations, and environmental justice leaders from across California, working to hold oil companies accountable for creating a public health crisis, especially for communities of color.
Press Contact:Robin Swanson, robin@swansoncomm.net