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Kern County’s Self Imposed Deja-vu

Expert BlogCaliforniaAnn Alexander

Kern County's violations of environmental law result in a second courtroom defeat for its industry-friendly oil drilling ordinance. 

Renewable Energy and Environmental Protection Is Not an Either/Or

Expert BlogUnited StatesAnn Alexander
We absolutely need to speed up our buildout of renewable energy and the transmission to support it if we're going to have any hope of meeting our climate goals. But NEPA and other environmental laws are not what's standing in…

Big Oil Sets Its Pants Aflame Fighting Setbacks

Expert BlogCaliforniaAnn Alexander
California's SB 1137, which established a health and safety setback buffer requirement to protect communities from oil drilling operations, is being attacked by Big Oil.

White House Poised to Carbon-Bomb Its Own Climate Progress

Expert BlogAlaskaAnn Alexander
The Willow oil drilling project—the largest single drilling project proposed on federal land—will cause roughly 280 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions over the course its lifetime.

Orphan Wells: The Bill Comes Due for 150 Years of Drilling

Expert BlogUnited StatesAnn Alexander

Big Oil is leaving behind a colossal and dangerous mess on its way out. We need help from President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda to get started on the cleanup, but industry and not taxpayers must ultimately foot the bill.

Taking the Gloves Off in California Battle Over Oil

Expert BlogCaliforniaAnn Alexander

Armed with millions of dollars to pay lobbyists and a well-oiled astroturf machine to create the illusion of public support, the state's oil industry has successfully leaned on the state’s legislators to stay away from any meaningful reform efforts.

Biofuel Conversions: A Chance to Model Just Transition

Expert BlogCalifornia, United StatesAnn Alexander
While decommissioning of crude refining is both necessary and inevitable as California state moves toward clean energy, there is a right way and a wrong way for a transition like that to happen.

"It'll Cost BILLIONS!": Big Oil Peddles Economic Doom

Expert BlogAnn Alexander
Industry’s approach is to count only the purported economic costs of regulation, without counting the economic value of the benefit. The economic benefit of keeping wells out of neighborhoods is only meaningful when presented in the context of the economic…

CA Refineries Are Driving Our Addiction to Oil Imports

Expert BlogCaliforniaAnn Alexander
If California truly means business about moving away from fossil fuels, it’s going to have to tackle the refinery problem—which puts surrounding communities at risk every day from pollution and frequent accidents.

AB 345: Please Keep Off the Astroturf

Expert BlogCaliforniaAnn Alexander
AB 345, which passed the California Assembly and is now pending in the Senate, would require regulators to establish setback buffers to keep drilling operations away from homes, schools, playgrounds, and hospitals.