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California’s efforts to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions have earned it a reputation as a climate leader. Most of the state’s actions, however, have focused on the “demand-side” of carbon emissions: reducing energy consumption, increasing efficiency, using cleaner fuels and energy sources, and reducing vehicle miles traveled. However, as the country’s 5 th largest oil producer (recently falling from 3 rd), the state has never done enough to keep polluting fossil fuels from being produced in the first place.

It’s been exactly a year since Zinke inexplicably rode a horse to his first day of work as Secretary of the Interior – and it’s been a great year for the oil and gas industry, but a bad year for public lands, clean air protections, and government accountability.

California is the third leading producer of oil in the country and although Kern County produces most of the state's oil, the Los Angeles area is the nation's largest urban oilfield. Oil production facilities are sited immediately next door to homes, schools, and shopping centers. One in three LA County residents live within one mile of an oil-drilling site—a pretty eye-watering statistic—and yet, no government agency or regulatory body has ever carried out a study of the health impacts on the city’s residents.

This was one of the disturbing facts that came up during a panel discussion of the