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Chevron Spends $3 Million To Stop Oil Well Liability Law In 2023's First Three Months [1]

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Date: 2024-05-21  

Sacramento, CA - As it awaits a vote on the California Assembly Floor, oil giant Chevron reported spending over $3 million lobbying in the first three months of the year to defeat a bill, AB 3155, holding oil drillers accountable for health harms according to state disclosures analyzed by CalMatters.

This is only bill Chevron claims to be lobbying agains, noted Consumer Watchdog. Chevron spent more lobbying in the first quarter than any entity in the state, the analysis revealed. In addition to lobbying against AB 3155, Chevron also lobbied an array of state agencies.

“The company lobbied the Legislature on several items, including the budget, hydrogen programs, and carbon sequestration,” reported Cal Matters. “But that isn’t the only institution that Chevron wanted to influence. It also reported advocating before the state Energy Commission, the Public Utilities Commission, the Air Resources Board, the Natural Resources Agency and the Departments of Tax and Fee Administration and Fish and Wildlife.”

“The fossil fuel behemoth took a public position on just one bill so far this year: a proposal from Assemblymember Laura Friedman, Democrat from Burbank, that would make oil well operators liable for civil penalties for health impacts on people who live in the area. Chevron opposed the bill, which is still pending after approval from two committees in the Assembly,” the publication revealed.

According to Consumer Watchdog, AB 3155 (Friedman) holds oil drillers legally accountable for birth defects, cancer, and respiratory problems in people who live within a half mile of an oil well that doesn’t use the most protective leak control technology that is commercially available. The bill “creates a presumption of liability that can be rebutted if the company uses the best pollution control technology or can prove the health problems were caused another way.”

“Chevron is scared of AB 3155 because it will hold the company accountable to the people it harms in communities surrounding its wells,” said Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog. “All the company has to do to avoid liability is use the best commercially available pollution control technology. But Chevron spends its money trying to influence politics instead of cleaning up its wells. The Assembly should tell Chevron it needs to be accountable for unsafe drilling.”

The Western States Petroleum Association, the largest and most powerful corporate lobbying group in California, placed second in the first quarter lobbying expenses with $2,469,067 pumped into lobbying.

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