For Immediate Release

Sacramento, CA — Governor Gavin Newsom released his proposed 2022-’23 budget today, including a $45.7 billion budget surplus. Newsom claimed that combating the climate crisis was second only to fighting COVID-19 on his list of priorities. However, the governor’s proposals lacked clear pathways towards ending fossil fuel proliferation and extraction, instead promoting factory farming and fossil fuel technology like factory farm biogas, carbon capture and “green” hydrogen.

In response, Food & Water Watch California Director Alexandra Nagy issued the following statement:

“Newsom’s proposed budget fails. It lacks a comprehensive investment plan for ending fossil fuels and factory farms, two major sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Instead, Newsom includes funds for technologies that prop up these industries, like green hydrogen, factory farm manure digesters and carbon capture. Too many Californians lack access to fresh water and suffer from climate change induced disasters like wildfires. Newsom has allocated $2.7 billion for wildfire mitigation and $6 billion for drought support, but he neglects the root cause of these disasters: climate change hastened by fossil fuel emissions.”

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