We are happy to send notice of this Climate Center webinar to all 350 Humboldt members. Last year the action that attracted most 350 Humboldt participation was a petition in favor of AB 345, which would have required setbacks from oil and gas installations near schools and other sensitive sites. (It failed at the last minute, but will be back this legislative session.)
This webinar is a chance to learn much more about climate justice and phasing out oil and gas.
Steering Committee, 350 Humboldt
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The Climate Center – Climate-Safe California
Webinar Series
Phasing Out Fossil Fuels: A Just Transition in the Oil and Gas Drilling and Refining Sectors
Tuesday, February 23rd, 10 AM – 11:30 AM PST
How do we transition away from fossil fuels while ensuring a just transition for workers and communities to high road, climate-friendly jobs? Speakers will discuss the current impacts of fossil fuel production on frontline communities and what needs to be done to address them, a plan for decommissioning California refineries, and the possibility of enacting a fracking ban. What does the clean energy future look like?
SPEAKERS
Ingrid Brostrom is the Assistant Director of the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment based in Delano and Oakland, CA. She has legal and policy expertise in CRPE’s environmental justice practice areas: toxics, climate justice, and land-use, with an emphasis on hazardous waste, oil and gas, and Just Transition. Ingrid is also a steering committee member of Californians for a Healthy and Green Economy (CHANGE). Ingrid has taught Environmental Justice at UC Berkeley College of the Law since 2015. Prior to joining CRPE in 2006, Ingrid worked at a variety of environmental non-profits focused on conservation issues.
Gustavo Aguirre Jr is the Kern County Director for the Central California Environmental Justice Network. Gustavo is a California native whose parents were farm workers and traveled from the coast to the desert following the seasonal crops. Since 2014 with CCEJN, Gus has coordinated the Identifying Violations Affecting Neighborhoods (IVAN) Reporting Network in Kern County and has conducted environmental literacy workshops, as well as community science data-gathering projects. Gustavo has participated in various state panels including California Air Resources Board Office of Community Air Protection – AB 617 Consultation group and Department of Conservations SB 83 Underground Injection Control review panel representing environmental justice communities in the Central Valley.
Greg Karras is a Principal at Community Energy reSource which offers independent pollution prevention, environmental justice, and energy systems science for communities and workers on the frontlines of today’s climate, health, and social justice crises. Greg has extensive experience, knowledge, and expertise in the energy manufacturing sector, including petroleum refining, and in particular the refineries in the State of California. He has served as an expert for CBE and other non-profit groups in efforts to prevent pollution from oil refineries; to assess environmental health and safety impacts at refineries; to investigate alternatives to fossil fuel energy, and to improve environmental monitoring of dioxins and mercury.
Steve Garey is a retired refinery worker that has spent 25 years working for both Shell and Tesoro in their refineries in Washington State. He served as President of United Steelworkers local 12-591 from 2010 until his retirement in 2015 representing workers in several refineries and related businesses. Steve represented west coast oil workers as a member of the National Oil Bargaining Rank and File Policy Committee during the oil strike in 2015. Since retiring he has served on the executive committee of the Washington State Blue Green Alliance and on the steering committee of the Climate Alliance for Jobs and Clean Energy in Washington.
The Climate Center recognizes that labor is not monolithic and that different unions and labor organizations have very different perspectives on a just transition and phasing out of fossil fuel production. We are delighted to have Steve Garey to share his perspective and experience with us.