"Today, we're announcing that we will phase out all oil extraction — as part of a world-leading effort to achieve carbon neutrality — and ban fracking by 2024," Newsom tweeted.
The announcement came on the heels of a refusal by state lawmakers earlier in April to adopt a bill prohibiting fracking and other fossil-fuel extraction, one day after the environmental Earth Day holiday, as well as a global virtual climate summit put on by the Biden administration.
Newsom took the measure in part due to ongoing attempts to recall him, with environmental activists slamming the governor for not making enough efforts to advance the fracking bill and conservatives criticizing him for not doing enough to keep the oil flowing.
Earlier, the governor said that fracking accounts for just 2 percent of crude output in California — one of the largest oil-producing states in the US. Industry groups claim that share is much bigger - as high as 17 percent - triggering dispute over how impactful a ban would be.
In November 2020, then-US President Donald Trump signed an order to protect hydraulic oil sands fracturing.
US President Joe Biden suspended the issuance of new oil and gas leases on federal land and water areas after he assumed office on January 20. Biden has set a target of halving the US carbon footprint by 2035 and has also committed to investing $400 billion over the next decade on sustainable energy projects including wind, solar and water.
