Amid record low oil prices, an oil glut, and a pandemic, Indiana-based PowerDrive Oil and Gas Company has proposed exploratory drilling in East County. Air and water pollution associated with drilling would threaten the health and safety of nearby homeowners in the Brentwood Hills subdivision, as well as vulnerable populations at Antioch Kaiser Hospital, health clinics, and children who attend the numerous schools in the surrounding communities.

This is even more important in light of a new Harvard study linking even small increases in air pollution to higher death rates from Covid-19. Residents of Contra Costa already suffer from high asthma rates and poor health associated with refinery pollution and flaring. We have had enough. Citizen health and safety come first.

After activists were able to extend the deadline for public comment on the Declaration of Negative Impacts, comments flooded into the Department of Conservation and Development. Local residents and activists have formed a group and hired legal counsel to build a case. A GoFundMe page has been set up to raise money for this fight.