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gas station ban

California Towns Are Banning New Gas Stations; Big Oil Is Watching

When oil and gas companies attack a climate campaign, activists usually focus on the obvious negative: One of the world’s biggest industries, with its wealth of resources, is trying to quash their efforts to, for instance, ban natural gas in buildings. But in Northern California, where grassroots activists have succeeded in getting towns across Napa and Sonoma counties to prohibit new gas stations, some consider the emerging backlash a sign of validation. The news of Big Oil’s opposition came to Jim Wilson in late January. The longtime climate activist in Napa County found a flyer in his mailbox one day with a picture of a gas nozzle next to an empty wallet, along with the message “Banning gas stations = higher gas prices.”

Los Angeles Considers Ban On New Gas Stations

The idea might seem improbable. The City of Angels is infamous for its reliance on cars. Its public transit system is considered one of the worst in the world, according to Jalopnik, and the amount of cars on the road meant that LA commuters wasted 46 hours each in traffic in 2020, according to the Urban Mobility Report. Despite this, the city announced on Wednesday that it was joining a growing movement of metropolises looking to stop adding gas stations. “We are ending oil drilling in Los Angeles. We are moving to all-electric new construction. And we are building toward fossil fuel free transportation,” LA Councilmember Paul Koretz, who wrote the proposed policy, said in a statement. “Our great and influential city, which grew up around the automobile, is the perfect place to figure out how to move off the gas-powered car.”

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