ABSTRACT
The world’s supply of fossil fuel is dwindling and a transition to alternative energy production is inevitable. Whether justice is at the center of this transition remains uncertain. Investments in cleaner energy will generate millions of new jobs. Unless a holistic Just Transition framework is advanced to support extraction-dependent communities, workers in the fossil fuel industry will face layoffs, falling incomes, and declining budgets to support vital public services such as libraries, fire services, and other social services. These risks will increase political resistance to effective climate policies. However, a Just Transition framework with a “from the ground up” approach to transitioning our economic system which addresses the needs of the low-income communities and communities of color that have been most impacted by the fossil fuel economy is what is needed to holistically solve our climate crises and improve our communities. The Just Transition provides a pathway to mitigate and heal many externalities imposed by the Anthropocene era.
This chapter will examine how the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment (CRPE) and the Committee for a Better Arvin are planning a Just Transition in the historic heart of California’s oil and gas industry. Similar to many extractive-based economies, the oil and gas industry has created dependence and cycles of poverty. Tied to oil and gas for its economic growth, yet overburdened by its pollution, California reflects the paradox facing many extractive economies around the world. This chapter will discuss how state climate policies and local targeted private investment can improve community health, build community wealth, and create accountable governance systems that benefit low-income communities and communities of color. We will begin by discussing the Environmental Justice’s Movements definition of a Just Transition. We will then discuss how California’s climate policy evolved over the last few years to incorporate elements of a Just Transition Framework. Finally, the chapter will discuss the case study of Arvin, CA, a low-income Latinx community in the heart of the oil and gas industry planning to become 100% fossil fuel free.
