Letter to California State Senate’s Natural Resources and Water Committee from health professionals in California in support of AB345
Dear Members of the California State Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee,
We represent over 1900 physicians, nurses and health professionals in California, many of whom are currently frontline health care workers throughout our state. We thank the members of the Committee who have already voted in support of AB345.
We have seen first hand the ways in which oil and gas drilling harms the health of our patients. While we understand that the California Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM) is undertaking a public health rulemaking process, CalGEM is currently under no obligation to enact a setback between oil and gas drilling and sensitive sites like homes, playgrounds and hospitals. To protect the health of Californians, we need you to support AB345 and ensure the creation of a health and safety buffer zone.
We work our hardest to treat patients suffering from the downstream effects of oil and gas drilling — babies born prematurely, children and adults with asthma and respiratory disease, people with chronic migraines, and cancer patients. We are now seeing that it is also our patients who breathe polluted air every day who are suffering and dying from COVID-19 at higher rates. Living near oil and gas drilling is dangerous to health. Without your help, we cannot move upstream to prevent exposure.
AB 345 is not a distraction from COVID-19. Especially as we battle the COVID pandemic, Californians need you to take action to protect our health. There is mounting evidence that in the United States, people exposed to chronic air pollution are more likely to die from COVID-19 than those who breathe cleaner air.[1] Black and Latinx communities in California, who are suffering disproportionately from COVID-19 deaths relative to white Californians,[2] are also more likely to live within 2500 feet of oil and gas drilling sites.[3]
In addition, children who are already overburdened by pollution in frontline communities are overburdened by COVID-19. Disturbing evidence recently published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that Black and Hispanic children in the U.S., including data from California, are 5 to 8 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 and with Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C). One out of three of these children require ICU admission.[4],[5] Though the cause of this disproportionate impact is multifactorial, ongoing exposure to pollutants has been shown to be a contributing factor. This emerging information adds to the urgency of mandating setbacks to protect marginalized communities in California. We must recognize that more new information is likely to emerge, and that we should employ the precautionary principle in the face of an ongoing and novel health threat.
Passing AB 345 to ensure the creation of a setback between oil and gas extraction sites and places where Californians dwell is a vital step to lowering unacceptable racial inequities in environmental health in our state. We need all forms of our government, especially our legislature, fighting to protect the health of Californians at this pivotal time.
The scientific evidence about the health harms associated with living near oil and gas drilling is deeply concerning and increasingly robust. Oil and gas extraction releases air pollutants including fine particulate matter (PM2.5), diesel PM, nitrogen oxides (NOx), secondary ozone formation and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which have robust linkages with respiratory, cardiovascular and neurological problems in children and adults, as well as with low birth weight and preterm birth.[6],[7],[8] Studies from across the U.S. have found that people living in close proximity to oil and gas drilling have higher rates of asthma, childhood and adult cancer, and birth defects.[9],[10],[11],[12]
Increasingly, studies of people in California are clearly documenting the health harms of living in close proximity to oil and gas drilling. In June 2020, researchers at UC Berkeley, Columbia University and San Francisco State published their analysis of nearly 3 million births to Californian mothers living within 10 km (6.2 miles) of one production well and found that for mothers in rural areas, proximity to higher production oil and gas development was associated with adverse birth outcomes including low birth weight.[13] A separate study by researchers at Stanford looked at over 200,000 births to mothers in the San Joaquin Valley and found exposure to oil and gas wells to be associated with increased risk of spontaneous preterm birth,[14] the leading cause of U.S. infant mortality.[15] This study also found that exposure to new (pre-production) wells is associated with higher exposure to particulate matter, which has been linked to higher rates of death from COVID-19.
Please, listen to your physicians, nurses, and health providers. Our interest is protecting the health of our communities. It is not everyday that your actions have the potential to save lives. Our patients — your constituents — need you.
Vote YES on AB 345.
Sincerely,
Organizational Signers:
Climate Health Now
Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments
Physicians for Social Responsibility — San Francisco Bay
Climate Psychiatry Alliance
Climate 911
Medical Students for a Sustainable Future
Central California Asthma Collaborative
Physicians for Social Responsibility — Los Angeles
Individual Signers: (Note: affiliations listed for identification only)
Kevin D. Hamilton, RRT, CEO Central California Asthma Collaborative, Fresno, CA
Maria Esteves, RN, Nurse, Walnut Creek, CA
Jesse Esteves, BSN, MA, Nurse, Sutter Health, Walnut Creek, CA
Don Gaede, MD, President-elect, Fresno Madera — Medical Society, Fresno, CA
Karina Maher, MD, Pediatrician, Los Angeles, CA
Brenda Nuyen, MD, Ophthalmologist, Los Angeles, CA
Esther Hsiao, MD, Neurologist, Riverside, CA
Priyanka Fernandes, MD, Los Angeles, CA
David Neison, MD, Emergency Physician and Disaster Chair, Kaiser Permanente, San Diego, CA
Ann Harvey, MD, Oakland, CA
Renata Kiefer, MD, MPH, San Francisco, CA
Janet Perlman, MD, MPH, Physician, UCSF, Berkeley, CA
Amanda Millstein, MD, Pediatrician, Hilltop Pediatrics, Richmond, CA
David Mazariegos, MD, Psychiatrist, Folsom, CA
William C. Pevec, MD, Professor Emeritus, UC Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento, CA
Sarah Schear, MS, Medical Student, UCSF School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA
Kate Arriola, PharmD, Escondido, CA
Megan Whitman, MD, Internal Medicine Physician, Davis, CA
Trisha Roty, MD, Pediatrician, Santa Monica, CA
Jennifer Jaeger, MSN, Nurse Practitioner (NP), Novato, CA
Chitaranjan Mahapatra, PhD, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Amy Guo, BS, PhD student at University of California San Francisco, Berkeley, CA
Wendy Ring, MD, MPH, Executive Director of Climate 911, Bayside, CA
Robin Cooper, MD, Assist. Clinical Professor, Dpt. Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF, San Francisco, CA
Sheila F. Tarbet, Ph.D., Consultant, Program Development & Evaluation, El Cerrito, CA
Karen Duderstadt, PhD, RN, NP, UCSF Clinical Professor Emerita, San Francisco, CA
Bret Andrews, DO, Physician, Oakland, CA
Aude Bouagnon, PhD, Medical Student, UCSF, San Francisco, CA
Vi Thuy Nguyen, MD, Pediatrician, San Diego, CA
Bruce Bekkar, MD, Chair, Public Health Advisory Council, Climate Action Campaign, Del Mar, CA
Kim Harvey, MD, Palo Alto, CA
David Bezanson, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist and Neuropsychologist, Retired, Santa Cruz, CA
Diana Randolph Russell, RN, Retired Nurse Executive, Los Altos Hills, CA
Allison Coleman, MD, Pediatrician, Oakland, CA
Marjaneh Moini, MD, John Muir Health, Oakland, CA
Sandra C. Wong, DO, Family Medicine, Palo Alto Medical Foundation, Fremont, CA
Dr Noemi Alice Spinazzi, MD, FAAP, Attending Physician, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals, Oakland, CA
Natalie Pierson, MD, Pediatric Resident PGY-1, Oakland, CA
Angie Neison, MD, Family and Culinary Medicine Physician, San Diego, CA
Anita Lowe Taylor, MD, Resident Physician, Stanford University, Union City, CA
Shellie Klimen, RN, PHN, Nurse, Angwin, CA
Christina Monroy, MD, Oakland, CA
Maya Raman, MD, Pediatric Resident Physician, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, San Francisco, CA
Shella Raja, MD, Pediatric Resident Physician, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, Oakland, CA
Sally Kaufman, MD, Internal Medicine and Pediatrics Physician, Scripps Coastal, Kaiser, San Diego, CA
Jennifer A. Graber, MD, Pediatrician, Valley Medical Center, San Jose, CA
Patrick Carr, MFT (retired), Arcata, CA
Amrit Kaur Dosanjh, MD, MPH, Pediatric Resident Physician, Oakland, CA
Margie Chen, MD, Clinical Professor, Emeritus UCSF Dept of Ob/Gyn and Reproductive Sciences, San Francisco, CA
Clinton Young, MD, San Francisco, CA
Navneet Kahlon, MD, Oakland, CA
Ilona Frieden, MD, Professor, University of California San Francisco, Oakland, CA
Natalie Young, MD, Assistant Professor, UCSF Dept of Medicine, Division of Gerontology, San Francisco, CA
Kalen Hendra, MD, Oakland, CA
Parya Saberi, PharmD, MAS, Associate Professor of Medicine, San Francisco, CA
Tova Fuller, MS, MD, PhD, Assistant Clinical Professor, UCSF / Vice President, SF Bay Physicians for Social Responsibility, San Francisco, CA
Dr. Joyce Kwok, PT & L.Ac, Berkeley, CA
Jeffrey Ritterman, MD, Physicians for Social Responsibility Board of Directors, Richmond, CA
Jonathan Lu, MS, Medical Student, Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
Christine Hoex, RTM, Radiologic Technologist, Senior Staff Technologist III, Retired, Santa Rosa, CA
Sandra Rubin, MD, Retired, Sebastopol, CA
Vanessa Forsythe, RN, MSN, Retired School Nurse, Carlsbad, CA
Rebecca Bromley-Dulfano, MS, Medical Student, Stanford School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA
Patrice Sutton, MPH, Research Scientist, San Francisco, CA
Katya Gerwein, MD, Lead pediatrician at Bayside Stanford Children’s Health, Berkeley, CA
Ashley McClure, MD, FACP, Primary Care Physician, Co-Founder of Climate Health Now, Mom, Berkeley, CA
Alexa Foster, PhD, Clinical Psychologist, Off the Couch Psychology, Coto De Caza, CA
Dr. David Caruso-Radin, DAIM, Doctor of Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine, Richmond, CA
Dr.Leslie Klein, DO, Family Practice Physician, Los Angeles, Offices in Los Angeles and Monterey Park, CA
Eric R Hansen, DO, FAAFP, Hesperia, CA
Christina Wang, B.A., Medical Student, UCSF School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA
Cynthia Mahoney, MD, Clinical Assoc. Prof, Stanford School of Medicine (retired), Danville, CA
Amy B. Garlin, MD, Associate Clinical Professor, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
Robert M. Gould, MD, President, SF Bay Physicians for Social Responsibility, San Francisco, CA
Raj Fadadu, BA, Medical Student, UC Berkeley — UC San Francisco Joint Medical Program, Fremont, CA
Arthur Bakal, MD, Piedmont, CA
Lilly Pakawongse, NP, Pediatric nurse practitioner at UBCP & Kaiser, Pinole, CA
Hannah Perrin, MD, Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrician, Berkeley, CA
Benjamin Feldman, MD, Emergency Medicine Physician, Pinole, CA
Annie Kaplan, MD, Resident Physician, Kensington, CA
K. Gundling, MD, Professor Emerita, UCSF, San Francisco, CA
Jeffrey Mann, MD, Orthopedic Surgeon, Oakland, CA
Venise C. Curry, MD, Fresno, CA
Jessica Rhodes, MD, MPH, Family Medicine Physician, San Rafael, CA
Teresa E. Munoz, MD, OB/GYN, Richmond, CA
Allison Friedenberg, MD, Physician, The Permanente Group San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Colleen Surlyn, MD, Medical Director of Care Coordination, SF DPH, San Francisco, CA
Tara Sood, MD, Physician, San Jose, CA
Michael J. Martin, MD, MPH, MBA, Associate Clinical Professor, Dept. of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, UCSF, San Francisco, CA
Bruce Burdick, MD, Physician, The Permanente Medical Group (Retired), Carmichael, CA
Pooja Singal, MD, Pediatrician, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, San Francisco, CA
Sara Jeevanjee, MD, San Francisco, CA
Nathan Uchtmann, MD, Carmel Valley, CA
Gail Lee, REHS, CEM, Sustainability Director, San Bruno, CA
Zohir Chowdhury, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the School of Public Health at San Diego State University, San Diego, CA
Maryam Mortezai, DO, Physician, Woodland Hills, CA
M. Mortezaiefard, DO, Physician, Woodland Hills, CA
Lisa Hartmayer, RN, NP, UCSF, San Francisco, CA
Corito Tolentino MD, MD, Menlo Park, CA
Gretchen Stumhofer, MD, Redlands, CA
Lilly MacRae, RN, Manager, Outpatient Care Coordination, Oakland, CA
Kara Bischoff, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, San Francisco, CA
Lilly MacRae, RN, Manager, Outpatient Care Coordination, Oakland, CA
Sarah Coates, MD, Dermatologist, UCSF, San Francisco, CA
Naomi Bardach, MD, MAS, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Health Policy, UCSF, San Francisco, CA
Carolyn Hendrickson, MD MPH, Assistant Professor of Medicine, UCSF, Medical Director of the Intensive Care Unit ZSFG, San Francisco, CA
Dr Katherine Foster, MD, The Permanente Medical Group, Sebastopol, CA
Lisa Patel, MD, Assistant Professor, San Francisco, CA
Nishanga E. Bliss, DAIM, DSc., LAc., Professor, Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine College, Berkeley, CA
Dr. K. “Tank” Conner, DAIM, Doctor of Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine, Living Tree Acupuncture, Albany, CA
Dr Mary Lynn Morales, LAc, DAIM, Berkeley, CA
Curtis Wong, DO, Physician, Buena Park, CA
Holly C. Holter MD, San Francisco, CA
Allison Aiken, MD, Family Physician, UC Berkeley Student Health, Berkeley, CA
Frederic Kass, MD, Director, Medical Oncology, Ridley Tree Cancer Center, Santa Barbara, CA
Steve Lichtenberg, MD, MPH, San Francisco, CA
Karly Hampshire, BS, Medical Student, UCSF, San Diego, CA
AC Mogal, MD, PhD, Anesthesiologist, Intensivist, Los Altos, CA
Alexander Clonan Trope, MD, Psychiatrist, UCSF/ZSFG, San Francisco, CA
Jackson Doyle, MSW, Oakland, CA
Vickie F Hagbom, RN, NP, Nurse Practitioner, Mill Valley, CA
Marc Futernick, MD, FACEP, Chairman, BOD, VEP Healthcare, Pasadena, CA
Rev. Andrew Bear, MDiv, Chaplain, San Jose, CA
Bonnie Hamilton, MD, Fairfield, CA
Rajan Garg, MD, Intensivist, Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA
Luke Palmisano, MD, Associate Medical Director, Emergency Department, Los Angeles, CA
David M Solomon, MD, Attending Physician, Mar Vista, CA
Shanyin Amy Chang, DAOM, LAc, CKTP, Berkeley, CA
E. VyVy Trinh, MD, OB/Gyn, Kaiser Permanente, Santa Clara, CA
Ariana Thompson-Lastad, PhD, Postdoctoral fellow, UC San Francisco, Berkeley, CA
Robert Vinetz MD, Los Angeles, CA
David Turnoff, MD, Primary Care Physician, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
Jorge Fernandez, MD, Associate Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine, UC San Diego, San Diego, CA
Erin Kobashigawa, MD, KPSF Chief Resident, San Francisco, CA
Elizabeth Barreras-Rivest, MD, Resident Physician, San Diego, CA
Valerie Norton, MD, Chief Operations Executive Physician, Scripps Mercy Hospital, San Diego, San Diego, CA
Molly Anderson, NP, Nurse Practitioner, Berkeley, CA
Andrew Clayton Saunders, MD, Pediatric Hospitalist, Stanford Medicine, Stanford ValleyCare, San Francisco, CA
Susan Bradshaw, MD, MPH, Los Angeles, CA
Leah Fraimow-Wong, BA, Medical Student, UCSF, San Francisco, CA
Kendall Alway, PT, DPT, Owner, SF Performing Arts PT, Oakland, CA
Li-hsia Wang, MD, Physician (retired), Berkeley, CA
Katie Crist, PhD, MPH, Postdoctoral Fellow, UC San Diego, San Diego, CA
Michelle Steinberg, MS, Oakland, CA
Alejandro Perez-Sandi, BSN, RN, Prehospital Care Coordinator, Los Angeles, CA
Katherine Schaff, DrPH, Organizer, Public Health Justice Collective, San Francisco, CA
Erin Carrera, RN, Clinical Nurse UCSF, Corte Madera, CA
Janice Kirsch, MD, MPH, Medical Oncologist, Berkeley, CA
Randall Miller, PhD, Executive Director, San Francisco Bay Physicians for Social Responsibility, Oakland, CA
Martha Dina Arguello, Executive Director, Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Amos Acoff, MD, Chair, Department of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA
Donna M. Staton, MD, MPH, Retired Pediatrician, Los Altos Hills, CA
Anne Richards, MD, Associate Clinical Professor, San Francisco, CA
Mark B Horton, MD, MSPH, Coach/Consultant PHI/CHLP, Sacramento, CA
Elissa Epel, PhD, Professor, Department of Psychiatry, UCSF, San Francisco, CA
Ami Kapadia, MD, Internal Medicine, Daly City, CA
Ellen Herbst, MD, Clinical Professor, UCSF, Mill Valley, CA
Andreea Seritan, MD, Professor of Psychiatry, San Francisco, CA
Bennett Kissel, Medical Student, San Francisco, CA
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[2] The Color of Coronavirus: COVID-19 Deaths By Race and Ethnicity in the U.S. APM Research Lab.
Accessed August 7, 2020. https://www.apmresearchlab.org/covid/deaths-by-race
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