Oakland students leave school to join climate justice protest at City Hall

Nearly 60 students walked out of Oakland high schools Friday to march to City Hall as part of a statewide action in support of a California bill that would mitigate the impacts of fossil fuel pollution. 

Students rallied in support of the “Polluters Pay Climate Superfund” bill, which was introduced in February and is in committee until January, when legislators are scheduled to debate it. The bill would require oil and gas companies who did business in California between 1990 and 2024 to pay into a state-managed fund to offset the impact of fossil-fuel pollution in the soil and groundwater.

As the students marched, they chanted: “Shame on PG&E!” and “Oakland youth, rising strong, we’ve been here all along.” 

Alejandro Tovar-Montaño, 16, said he feels that oil and gas companies are being paid to harm communities. He joined other students from Castlemont High School in the walk out, despite security concerns related to the rumored deployment of ICE and other federal law enforcement agencies to the Bay Area that day. 

On Thursday, some student groups from other schools voted not to participate in the walkout, citing concerns about the deployment.

“I’m here for the people that couldn’t be here,” Tovar-Montaño said. 

As proposed, the superfund that the students support would cover the costs of state-managed programs to help Californians recover from wildfires and to promote farming methods that are more drought resilient. 

Money from the fund also would be used to make housing more energy efficient, less polluting, and hardened against sea level rise and heat waves.

The need for funding to address climate change is critical, said Ken Alex, director of the UC Berkeley Center for Law, Energy & the Environment. Alex pointed to one example where a superfund would be helpful: capping orphan wells, which are abandoned oil and gas wells that often leak pollutants into the air, soil and groundwater. Currently, taxpayers foot the bill for those cleanups, he said. If the bill is passed, the fossil fuel companies would pay for this work/

Zoe Jonick, 26, of Oakland helped organize Friday’s walkout with 350 Bay Area, a climate justice group.

“We’re out here to show our elected officials that we’re not letting up the pressure,” she said outside City Hall, as students cheered  “Who’s got the power? We got the power!”

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