Wilson, Torres-Walker sign No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge in their fruitless, costly war on oil, gas drilling, pipeline in Antioch
Tout their efforts but accomplished little to nothing, resulting in pipeline owner suing city; pledge symbolic as gas and oil companies rarely if ever contribute to Antioch candidates
By Allen D. Payton
According to the NoFossilFuelMoney.org website, both incumbent Antioch Councilwomen Monica Wilson in District 4 and Tamisha Torres-Walker in District 1 signed the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge, this year. None of their challengers signed the pledge which is mainly symbolic as rarely if ever do oil or gas companies contribute to Antioch City Council candidates.
The pledge reads, “I pledge not to take contributions over $200 from oil, gas, and coal industry executives, lobbyists, and PACs and instead prioritize the health of our families, climate, and democracy over fossil fuel industry profits.”
On the website it explains, “Taking the pledge means that a politician and their campaign will adopt a policy to not knowingly accept any contributions over $200 from the PACs, lobbyists, or SEC-named executives of fossil fuel companies — companies whose primary business is the extraction, processing, distribution, or sale of oil, gas, or coal.”
As part of her efforts against oil and gas, earlier this year, Wilson was able to convince a majority of councilmembers to approve a moratorium on oil and gas drilling in the city, which she and Torres-Walker both tout as an accomplishment on their re-election campaign websites.
Bob Nunn is the only owner of oil and gas drilling rights inside Antioch, and whose company is drilling for oil just outside the city limits along Deer Valley Road. Yet, when Wilson, following the lead of the Brentwood City Council, was pushing for a moratorium on oil and gas drilling in Antioch, neither she nor city staff contacted or informed Nunn of the item being on the council agenda each time it was discussed and ultimately voted on. However, the vote did little to nothing as the moratorium doesn’t prevent Nunn from exercising his rights to drill in Antioch. Plus, he said there were no plans, anyway as previous efforts proved to be dry holes.
In addition, last year the councilwomen were joined by Mayor Lamar Thorpe in voting against the renewal of the franchise agreement for the low-pressure, natural gas pipeline that runs through the city. Torres-Walker flip flopped in her voting after supporting renewal of the agreement just a month prior. (See related article)
As a result, the pipeline owner, California Resources Production Corporation sued the city. CA RESOURCES PRODUCTION VS ANTIOCH | Court Records – UniCourt
the attachments to this post:
Monica Wilson & Tamisha Torres-Walker NFFM