Politicians Vote to Take Your Rights; We’re Going to Court to Get Them Back

Everyone in California looks forward to a clean energy future, and we need environmentally compliant and labor-friendly California-produced petroleum to get there. The anti-oil agenda of certain California politicians and the legislation they sponsor is bad policy. It is a direct attack on property rights, working families, the rule of law, national security, and California’s energy independence.

SB 1137 is the most aggressive government trespass against constitutionally protected, individual property we have seen in decades. It bans new oil wells and the essential maintenance on existing ones within 3,200-feet of vaguely defined “sensitive receptors.” 

For example, if local governments permit a park, business, or other dwelling within 3,200 feet of an oil well, that production is immediately curtailed and illegal, resulting in more oil imports from overseas countries such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, or South America. 

SB 1137 allows for no compensation or due process. It is just the heavy hand of government taking what it wants.

This unconstitutional overreach is both illegal and morally indefensible. While Californians struggle with soaring costs of food, housing, and transportation, our politicians who support the anti-energy agenda of SB 1137 shamefully give priority to foreign oil interests over the employees in California’s domestic oil and gas industry and the neighborhoods that benefit from their revenues and taxes. 

Now, when we are working to bring jobs back to America, we should realign our priorities and focus on the people of California and our energy independence.

California royalty and mineral rights owners are taking a stand and fighting back against anti-energy Sacramento politicians and the Governor. California royalty and mineral rights owners are taking a legal stand against the politicians who have given themselves over to special-interest environmental lobbyists, who are trying to wreck our economy, who are willing to decimate generational family property interests, and who are forcing energy policies on us that make life more expensive for everyone in this state.

Ask yourself: Why are we paying $5 for gas when people across the country pay $3.50 a gallon? Why are grocery bills climbing every week? Why are good-paying oil and gas jobs leaving California while oil imports from Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and Iraq increase dramatically?

Every year, California spends over $25 billion importing oil from foreign governments while our own energy workers are benched. Little to no permits mean challenges to maintaining existing wells and drilling new wells to supply the energy Californians demand. 

We could get all that oil right here from proven California oil reserves that are produced under the most comprehensive environmental regulations on the planet, using California labor while contributing to California’s economy. Instead, our current California leaders force us to pay foreign countries for oil produced with no environmental standards, no labor protections, and no interest in California’s future.

SB 1137 is unlawful, economic sabotage, plain and simple. SB 1137 does not make our air cleaner or our neighborhoods safer. Some 55,000 California energy workers and thousands of service providers could be out of work at a time when we should be building careers in the trades and manufacturing jobs. SB 1137 strips local governments of tax revenue used to fund services like schools and first responders. 

Let’s be clear: there is no “Big Oil” bogeyman here. Most California producers are family-owned businesses that have operated for generations. They’re the small operators in Kern County. They’re royalty owner-families who depend on a monthly income to pay the mortgage and buy groceries. They’re the field workers trying to put their kids through college.

And they’re being shut down. We’re not going to allow this to happen. We’re standing up because we have rights. Our constitutional protections against the taking of property by the government still matter. The rule of law still matters. We’re using every legal tool available to challenge this illegal seizure of property. 

This lawsuit is not just about oil and gas; it’s about every Californian who owns something today and wants to keep it tomorrow. If the state can strip one property owner of his or her rights with the stroke of a pen, then no other property owner is safe.

The government does not have the right to destroy an industry it politically disfavors. The government cannot simply vote away your business, your royalties, or your livelihood. This is precisely what California politicians are doing under SB 1137, and this is exactly why we are seeking recourse with the courts.

To our friends and neighbors, the people of California, whether you work in energy or pay the price at the pump, remember: the government doesn’t get to take your property without just compensation. And this is that fight.