• State Assemblymember Gregg Hart (D-Santa Barbara) announced that Assembly Bill 1866 passed the Legislature and was on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk for his signature, according to an Aug. 29 statement from Hart’s office. The legislation addresses the urgent climate and public health crisis posed by idle oil wells by mandating that companies meet ambitious targets to plug the estimated 40,000 idle oil wells in California. The measure would have the greatest impact on larger operators, mandating them to plug 15 percent of their idle wells in the first year, with the requirement rising to 20 percent annually by 2030. The bill also requires operators to prioritize plugging wells within 3,200 feet of where communities live, play, and work. Nearly half of the 40,000 idle wells in California have not produced oil in decades, and many idle oil wells are at high risk of becoming orphan, which means taxpayers will be left responsible for covering the plugging costs, according to Hart’s office. It’s estimated that taxpayers could be liable for billions of dollars should these idle wells become orphan, and according to the Assembly member, California taxpayers have already paid $100 million in the last few years to plug orphan wells, and the existing taxpayer liability of orphan wells already exceeds $1 billion. “I am deeply grateful to my broad coalition of supporters for helping move this bill to Gov. Newsom’s desk. This legislation will protect the communities most affected by the harmful health impacts of neighborhood oil drilling, shield taxpayers from cleanup costs, and create thousands of jobs,” Hart said in the statement. “AB 1866 is necessary to solve the idle well crisis in California, and I look forward to earning the governor’s signature.”
• U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California) and Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that the first of California’s seven C-130 Hercules (C-130H) aircraft began flying missions as part of Cal Fire’s fleet to better protect the state from deadly wildfires, according to an Aug. 26 statement from Padilla’s office. California became the first state in the nation to own, operate, and deploy a C-130H airtanker to fight wildfires and protect communities following Padilla’s extensive federal efforts to secure seven military aircraft for the state to retrofit and use. Capable of flying 800 miles with a payload of 4,000 gallons of long-term fire retardant, the C-130H now has the greatest speed and range of Cal Fire’s airborne fleet. The journey to bring large federal aircraft into service as Cal Fire air tankers began in 2018 when late U.S Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) enacted legislation enabling California to acquire seven C-130H aircraft from the United States Coast Guard, according to Padilla’s office. After years of delays due to contracting issues, in 2021, Padilla and Feinstein urged acting Secretary of the Air Force John Roth to expedite the retrofit of the seven C-130s being transferred from the Coast Guard to California to use for fighting wildfires. “With the completed transfer of federal air tankers to Cal Fire, we are equipping California’s firefighters with significantly expanded capabilities to protect our communities and save lives,” Padilla said in the statement. “Since entering the Senate, I’ve made pushing the Air Force to complete this transfer a top priority, and I passed legislation to get it done as quickly as possible. Now, California will be able to respond to wildfires more quickly and effectively as we face drier conditions and increasingly devastating fires.”
• Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that the California National Guard’s Counterdrug Task Force seized almost 4,638 pounds of fentanyl powder and more than 8.8 million pills containing fentanyl since January 2024, according to an Aug. 29 statement from the governor’s office. Fentanyl is a synthetic opiate 50 times more potent than heroin. These seizures are valued at nearly $40 million. “California’s work to address illicit fentanyl entering into our state continues to produce strong results,” Newsom said in the statement. “We’ll continue to address the opioid epidemic by all means necessary—including by getting fentanyl off our streets and providing communities with access to the treatment and life-saving medications they need.” The task force focuses on gathering information to interdict illegal narcotics trafficking, utilizing air and ground assets to build criminal investigations, and supporting personnel at border ports of entry to stop illicit narcotics trafficking. Cal Guard members with the Counterdrug Taskforce are embedded in cross-government initiatives to combat transnational criminal organizations and the trafficking of illegal narcotics—like fentanyl.
