Oil and Gas

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.

National

Sacrificing Water for Oil and Gas Profit

The Aquifer Exemption program in the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) Underground Injection Control (UIC) program allows certain oil and gas and mining activity to occur in groundwater that would otherwise be protected as a drinking water source.

Recent Actions

New Jersey

Tell Governor Murphy Thank You for Rejecting the NESE Project

Incredible victory for our water and fight against climate change! After a 4-year grassroots battle, both New York and New Jersey rejected permits for a billion dollar fossil fuel project.

Thank Governor Murphy for helping to put an end to this reckless, unnecessary and environmentally destructive project once and for all, and to keep up the fight in opposing all new fossil fuel projects in NJ!

California

Protect communities from oil and gas activities

Because of loopholes in California law, oil and gas wells, pump jacks and storage tanks are often located right next to playgrounds, schools, health care clinics, daycare centers and homes.

Take action now!

California

Protect Communities from Oil and Gas Production!

https://cleanwater.salsalabs.org/oil-gas-buffers

Take action now!

Texas

The COVID-19 Crisis Should NOT be ‘Christmas Come Early’ for Polluters

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) are letting polluters use the COVID-19 crisis as an excuse to avoid regulations put in place to protect public health and the env

Take Action!

English

Oil and Gas Blog Posts

We Will Not Be Silenced: Speaking Out Against NEPA Rollbacks

February 25, 2020

Today, Clean Water Action joined environmental advocates and community leaders from across the country for a rally and hearing in Washington, DC to speak out against the Trump Administration's rollbacks of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Check out the testimony of Kim Gaddy, Clean Water Action's Environmental Justice Organizer, who traveled from Newark, NJ to speak at the hearing.

Water tank in Kern County. Credit: Andrew Grinberg / Clean Water Action

Protecting Californians from Oil and Gas Production

February 3, 2020

More than 5 million Californians live near oil and gas production. In Kern County, oil production is wedged between homes and looms over schools and playground. Our communities are under a haze of contaminants due to the gargantuan fields of oil and gas wells bordering towns and scattered along our roads.

The Water Impacts of CO2-EOR

January 30, 2020

To stave off the worst effects of the climate crisis, the global and U.S. economies need to decarbonize as fast as possible. Capturing carbon emissions from industrial sources and pulling carbon out of the air via direct air capture are technologies we will likely need in our toolbox if we are to achieve net zero or negative greenhouse gas emissions.