CIPA First to Warn: California Policies Driving Amazon Destruction

The California Senate last week unanimously approved Senate Resolution 51 (Becker), calling for the state to review and ultimately phase out imports of crude oil from the Amazon rainforest, particularly in Ecuador.

The passage of this resolution underscores a truth CIPA has been warning about for years: when California shuts down local production, the state doesn’t stop using oil; it imports more crude from places with weaker environmental protections, including the most fragile ecosystem on earth.

CIPA was the first to sound the alarm, launching our Amazon Rainforest outreach campaign, including the memorable sloth ads, to highlight how California’s reliance on Amazon crude threatens Indigenous communities and accelerates deforestation. Policymakers dismissed us then, but Senate Resolution 51 (SR 51) shows they are now catching up to the reality we identified first.

California’s reliance on foreign crude is no accident. It is the direct result of misguided legislation like Senate Bill 1137 (SB 1137), rushed through in the final days of the 2022 session.

• The Legislature had already rejected a 2,500-foot setback earlier that year. In a last-minute maneuver, SB 1137 was gutted and amended to impose 3,200-foot setback “health protection zones.”

• During the only committee hearing, the bill’s supporters repeatedly told the public it would not affect existing production. Senator Lena Gonzalez, Assembly Member Al Muratsuchi, and Assembly Member Cristina Garcia all claimed it would only prevent new wells and would not impact existing jobs.

• Those assurances were false. The bill blocks regulators from approving even routine maintenance on existing wells within the zone, ensuring that wells will decline and shut down prematurely.
  

SB 1137 squeaked by in the Senate after sitting on call for nearly nine hours, eventually passing with only the bare minimum votes.

From California Fields to Amazon Tankers

Californians consume 1.8 million barrels of oil every day. Demand has not dropped, even as billions in subsidies flow to alternative energy. Instead:

• In-state production has fallen to less than 25% in four years.

• California now imports more than 75% of its crude, much of it from Saudi Arabia and Iraq, but most alarmingly from the Amazon rainforest.

• Every lost California barrel means more tanker traffic in our crowded ports and more crude produced under lower standards abroad.
  

No Science Behind 3,200 Feet

Supporters of SB 1137 claimed a “scientific consensus” for the 3,200-foot setback. But:

• No peer-reviewed California-based study recommends such a distance.

• The state’s own review (PSE Healthy Energy, UC Berkeley) admitted epidemiological surveys cannot establish a “safe” setback distance.

• Actual environmental and occupational studies that measure air toxics were ignored.

• The memo even warned the setback zones could curtail new housing development, undermining California’s own housing goals.
  

CIPA has always been clear: California’s oil demand is not going away. The only choice is where that oil comes from:

• From California, produced under the most stringent environmental and labor protections in the world.

• Or from the Amazon Rainforest, where Indigenous rights are trampled and deforestation accelerates.
  

With SR 51, lawmakers are beginning to acknowledge what we have said all along: California must stop outsourcing its energy needs at the expense of global ecosystems.

California doesn’t need Amazon crude. California needs California crude oil.