Catron, Derek. “Kern Spill Renews Oil Production Controversy.” Capitol Weekly, 21 Aug. 2019, capitolweekly.net/kern-spill-renews-oil-production-controversy/.
Gov. Gavin Newsom hopes for a decrease in the demand for oil and fossil fuels. The Chevron oil spill has called a lot of attention to the issue of petroleum and oil. The article states that Chevron used steam injection instead of oil extraction, which is described as “a chemical-free version of fracking.” Fracking is the process of injecting liquids deep into the ground in order to find petroleum through open fissures. Ken Harris, head of DOGGR, the division responsible for monitoring the petroleum industry, was fired in July. Newsom wants to put an end to controversial extraction methods like fracking, but does not believe that he has the legal power to do so.
I am also in favor of getting rid of controversial extraction methods like fracking. Corporations should stick to standard methods, just to be safe. As important as California’s oil industry is, I will always believe in prioritizing public health and safety, which was threatened by the Chevron oil spill. I believe that Newsom made the right decision in firing the head of DOGGR, because incidents like this oil spill are not easily forgiven. As for Newsom’s hope in the decrease in demand for oil and fossil fuels, I think he’s right, but it’s unrealistic to expect big companies to make sudden changes that will affect their profit.
I think it is a very justified response to the situation that Ken Harris was fired from DOGGR. However, it likely will not change the extraction methods that Chevron uses to collect oil. In my opinion, this is the problem. Temporary solutions are not ones that will protect the environment in the long run – Dramatic changes have the power to, although they are often not implemented because of being to “unrealistic” aka threatening profits. Question… Does a more environmentally-friendly method of oil extraction than fracking exist?
I think it is a justified response to the situation to fire Ken Harris from DOGGR. However, I think the practices will continue to be a threat to the environment and potentially endanger many ecosystems. After such an event happens, I think dramatic measures needs to be taken to try prevent it from happening again, however, this change would likely come with the price of decreasing profits, which makes it unrealistic. Question… Does a more environmentally-friendly method of oil extraction exist?
I also agree with your ideas about the use of the new method to extract resources from the earth. I think that if the new method has already produced one failure, then it should be stopped until a new solution can be found to prevent something like this happening again. I also agree that big companies will be unwilling to change operations due to a spill because they are not fined enough to make it a worry for them. If companies were charged for the amount of damage that they cause to the environment, not in small fines, but having to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in them, then there would be changes. But, since this would likely cause for the companies to file for bankruptcy, it will not.