Clean Water is working to protect people and communities from oil and gas production's harmful environmental and health impacts while pushing for the transition to a clean energy economy.
The oil and gas industry, aided by the erosion of campaign finance laws and nearly boundless lobbying budgets, asserts enormous influence over legislative processes in real time while also enjoying legacy influence in regulatory frame- works. The results can be devastating to the health of the environment and the public.
Last week we organized to oppose President Trump’s nominee to serve as Secretary of Interior. David Bernhardt, a former oil and gas lobbyist and lawyer with extensive conflicts of interest, has used his position at DOI to harm America’s public lands, waters and wildlife and gut some of the nation’s landmark conservation victories at the behest of corporate special interests.
My name is Jesus Alonso, and I am the Kern Environmental Justice Community Organizer for Clean Water Action. I was born and raised in Lamont, a small, low-income, Spanish-speaking migrant community in Kern County. I am passionate about our work in Kern, not only because it is where I grew up but because the hard-working people of Kern face some of the worst environment-related health impacts and poorest air quality in our state. Multiple nearby pollution sources, including agriculture and oil and gas infrastructure, continually fill our air with contaminants.