Santa Barbara, CA — While the Alisal Fire burns through Santa Barbara County and edges closer to an abandoned oil facility, environmentalists are renewing calls for an end to new fossil fuel permits before Governor Newsom heads to the UN Climate Summit in November.

“We knew the Dixie Fire would likely not be the last wildfire this season to force evacuations of Californians from their homes,” said Food & Water Watch California Director Alexandra Nagy. “And now the Alisal Fire is taking its place as another devastating consequence of climate change and the fossil fuels driving it. While the fire inches ever closer to an abandoned ExxonMobile oil facility the danger intensifies. Oil infrastructure is prone to combustion even without severe drought, but with increasingly hot temperatures, dry winds and parched landscapes the likelihood of disaster skyrockets. Every second of Governor Newsom’s inaction on fossil fuel phaseout endangers Californians on the frontlines of climate disasters. Governor Newsom must act before the next Dixie Fire, before the next Orange County oil spill, and before he stands before the world as a climate leader at the COP 26. He must end all new fossil fuel permits now.”

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Contact: Jessica Gable, (202) 683-2478, [email protected]