With pumpjacks nodding in the background, California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday signed new laws to hold oil companies accountable and protect neighborhoods from oil development, protections community groups have fought more than a decade to win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI just want to breathe for a moment because it has been a long and winding road to get here,\u201d said Martha Dina Arg\u00fcello, executive director of Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles, standing in front of active oil wells in Los Angeles\u2019 Inglewood Oil Field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis moment has been fueled by years of persistent and principled organizing by many of the community organizations that are represented here,\u201d Arg\u00fcello said. \u201cCommunities that have lived with the harmful effects of oil drilling and pollution where we live, work, play and learn.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of more than 1 million Californians who live near active oil and gas wells, more than 60 percent<\/a> are in Los Angeles County and most are Black, Latino or socioeconomically marginalized, researchers reported<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n