Food & Water Watch Applauds Ventura County Supervisors' Decision to End Drilling Expansion Near Oxnard

For Immediate Release—September 25, 2019

Ventura—Yesterday, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors voted four to one to kill a proposal to expand a drill site near Oxnard. Supervisors upheld an appeal of a 2017 permit brought by Food & Water Watch and CFROG (Climate First Replacing Oil & Gas). The historic decision is the first time in more than 100 years of oil and gas development that Ventura County has denied a permit.

In response to the vote, Food & Water Action Senior Central Coast Organizer Tomas Morales Rebecchi issued this statement:

“We applaud the Ventura County supervisors for standing up for the health and well-being of one of the most vulnerable communities in Oxnard. We knocked on almost every door in the mobile home park adjacent to the proposed drill site, and the community’s response was overwhelmingly against more oil wells in their backyard. These are low-income Latino families who already breathe toxins from oil and gas operations, pesticides and trucking routes. The tides are turning in Oxnard and Ventura County. We will no longer be the sacrifice zone for these destructive industries.”

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Contact: Julie Light, 510-992-4083, [email protected]

Food & Water Action is the political advocacy arm of the research and education organization Food & Water Watch. We mobilize people to build political power to move bold & uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water and climate problems of our time.