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California plan to ban community oil drilling far from final

October 22, 2021

Environmental groups were cautiously optimistic about California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to ban new oil and gas wells within 3,200 feet of schools and homes, but the oil industry and labor allies warned the plan would raise California energy prices and potentially bring political consequences for the governor.

The ambitious proposal, announced Thursday, would create the nation’s largest buffer zone between wells and community sites, but it has a long way to go before it becomes official policy in the nation’s seventh-largest oil producing state. It would not shut down existing wells within the 3,200-foot (975-meter) zone but subject them to new pollution controls.

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