Oil producer Fred Holmes walks past an oil pump near Taft, California, September 21, 2023 (AFP/Frederic J. BROWN)
Under his straw hat, Fred Holmes watches with nostalgia the mechanical swing of the pumps on his farm, responsible for extracting oil from the Taft basement. Without California’s ambitious climate goals, drilling “could continue for another 100 years,” this producer dreams.
But faced with the ecological aims of the authorities, the septuagenarian is rather assessing the time he has left before closing shop: “12 to 14 years”, at the rate things are going. Because of increasingly restrictive regulations for granting drilling permits, “our town has almost closed, it’s almost a ghost town.”
Carbon neutrality in 2045, end of drilling on the same date, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 40% from 2030… The political program of the “Golden State”, pioneer of the environmental fight in the United States, is already full.
So when Governor Gavin Newsom announced in mid-September that the state was taking legal action against five of the world’s largest oil companies, Taft residents took it as another publicity stunt.
Oil wells as far as the eye can see, near the town of Taft in California, September 21, 2023 (AFP/Frederic J. BROWN)
A two-hour drive north of Los Angeles, Taft is surrounded by thousands of oil wells in the desert. With its black gold museum overlooked by a wooden drilling tower, the small town carries the tradition of Kern County, where 70% of the oil produced in California comes from.
– “Save the wells” –
Taft Mayor David Noerr poses in front of an old oil pump in the town’s museum dedicated to black gold (AFP/Frederic J. BROWN)
Here, it doesn’t matter whether justice determines whether the giants of the sector have voluntarily concealed the harmfulness of fossil fuels for the planet, we want to preserve jobs above all. “Save the wells,” implores a sign posted in the main street bar.
“Climate change doesn’t worry me, we’ll deal with it,” Mickey Stoner, a 75-year-old retiree, told AFP, against the program of “Governor Nuisance”. But “without oil, this city will die”, fears the ex-waitress.
“Oil is the soul of this city and Kern County,” says Taft Mayor David Noerr.
Tax revenues generated by the industry “finance schools, law enforcement, programs for veterans or young athletes,” lists the Republican councilor.
Pipes winding along an oil field near the town of Taft, California, September 21, 2023 (AFP/Frederic J. BROWN)
Like New Mexico, which ensures its universities are free thanks to oil revenues, or Wyoming, the leading American coal producer, the region symbolizes the challenges posed by the energy transition in the United States.
Reducing California’s oil production by 90% by 2045 would cost Kern County up to $27 million a year in property taxes and eliminate thousands of jobs, according to a recent University of California study. California in Santa Barbara.
– Difficult reconversion –
Solar panels next to an oil tank near Taft, California, September 21, 2023 (AFP/Frederic J. BROWN)
“If we don’t create programs so that workers can retrain (…) the transition will be very difficult,” explains Ranjit Deshmukh, one of the study’s researchers.
California has just introduced such a measure. And in Kern County, the upheaval is already here. The region is the state’s leading producer of renewable electricity: around Taft, some oil wells are lined with photovoltaic panels.
But solar and wind benefit from a property tax exemption, which is damaging to local finances. And these facilities require much less maintenance than oil fields.
“These green jobs bring economic benefits to residents intermittently, like the energy they produce,” sighs the mayor.
Going against the governor’s wishes, the county is fighting in court to authorize thousands of new drilling operations because demand for oil remains high and the “Golden State” imports 59% of its black gold from abroad.
“If we have to use oil, let’s use ours first,” says producer Fred Holmes.
A wish which, however, is not shared by everyone.
Abandoned businesses on the main street of the town of Taft, California, September 21, 2023 (AFP/Frederic J. BROWN)
“The climate is important,” says Bianca Hiler.
In the restaurant where she works, the waitress has witnessed the slow decrepitude of Taft since the 1980s. At 57, this young grandmother would like the region, undermined by pollution from the agricultural and oil sectors, to offer a more desirable future.
“The air quality is horrible all the time,” she says. “My grandson has asthma, he can’t even breathe.”
© 2023 AFP
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