California defunds job training for ousted oil industry workers
Tori Richards
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Thousands of oil industry workers are bound to lose their jobs in the coming years as California shifts toward green energy, but a $60 million displacement and training fund will not get any new cash in the coming fiscal year.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2023-24 budget proposal has no funding for the displaced workers who are now trying to learn jobs capping wells and in other sectors. This has angered workers who fear they will soon stand in the unemployment line.
“That’s a slap in the face is what that is,” oil worker Tyson Bagley told the Sacramento Bee. “If they want to do this transition the right way, they need our workers, our voices at the table.”
California is trying to get as close to a green economy as possible with numerous measures such as scaled-back oil production, new wind farms, and outlawing sales of gas-guzzling cars by 2035.
All of this comes as the state’s power grid is in precarious condition — Newsom admitted last year that it was on the brink of a shutdown due to overload.
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Newsom spokesman Daniel Villasenor said the oil fund cutbacks were to ensure that “the money is being used effectively.”
In contrast, more than $1 billion has been spent on programs to grow a green economy, including $500 million to a fund for new green projects and $300 million to cities with large unemployment and poverty numbers.
“We’re leading the way on how to achieve net-zero pollution while equitably supporting workers in every sector of the economy, especially workers on the front lines of California’s clean energy transition,” Villasenor told the Sacramento Bee.
The Gender Equity Policy Institute think tank reported that two-thirds of oil and gas workers will find new jobs without utilizing the state’s fund. Those who can’t find jobs or comparable pay would cost the state up to $69 million in annual subsidies, the institute said.
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A lucky few will be recruited by the state to cap more than 37,000 abandoned oil wells, mostly in Southern California. The California Department of Conservation has $200 million to hire a workforce to do this during the next two years, the Sacramento Bee reported.