FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 12th, 2025
Contact: Cesar Aguirre, (559) 907-2418, cesar.aguirre@ccejn.org
Bakersfield, CA – Three newly released reports expose alarming health and safety risks confronting Kern County communities—particularly those living next to oil and gas operations—and uncover state-created loopholes that allow dangerous pollution to persist.
IVAN Quarterly Reports (2024)
A typical year in Kern County sees repeated community reports of severe illness and nausea, overwhelming odors of crude oil and rotten eggs, pipeline ruptures, black smoke events, hydrogen sulfide spikes, water shutoffs, toxic vapor clouds, and even shelter-in-place alerts. While not all incidents are linked to oil and gas operations, they reflect the daily reality for many in Kern County. The 2024 quarterly IVAN Reports, now released, document these recurring public health hazards in detail.
FLIR Annual Report
Inspections conducted by CCEJN’s Finding Leaks Impacting Residents (FLIR) team found that 31% of the oil and gas sites inspected –all within 3,200 feet of homes, schools, or parks– were actively leaking. This aligns with recent state-led inspections that found 36% of wells inspected in Kern County were also actively leaking. Shockingly, more than one-third (37%) of the leaking infrastructure identified by the CCEJN FLIR team was legally allowed to leak due to regulatory loopholes.
Passes To Pollute: Regulatory Loopholes in California’s Oil and Gas Rule
CCEJN’s newly released White Paper details the many ways oil and gas infrastructure is permitted to leak into communities, often without consequence. The Heavy Oil Exemption Factsheet spotlights one such loophole that allows 68% of California’s oil and gas infrastructure to avoid critical emissions monitoring and leak repair requirements.
“These reports confirm what frontline communities have been saying for years,” said Cesar Aguirre, Director of the Air and Climate Justice Team at the Central California Environmental Justice Network. “Oil and gas pollution is not only constant—it’s being allowed to happen by design. California’s leadership on climate and environmental justice is undermined when industry is allowed to release harmful pollution into the same spaces people live, learn, and play.”
About Central California Environmental Justice Network (CCEJN)
CCEJN is a long-standing environmental justice nonprofit dedicated to securing clean air, safe and affordable drinking water, farmworker rights, and food sovereignty in the San Joaquin Valley. Since 1999, we’ve worked alongside low-income communities of color to challenge environmental injustice and to build a healthy and sustainable future. Learn more at ccejn.org.