After Oil: California's Big Bet
A collaborative reporting project on Kern County's budding carbon capture industry from KVPR, Inside Climate News, the Investigative Editing Corps and Report for America
Jae C. Hong
/
AP
Oil and gas production is one of Kern County’s biggest industries. But climate change is posing a threat to the economic mainstay. In a new investigation by KVPR, Inside Climate News, the Investigative Editing Corps and Report for America, we explore Kern County’s role in the state’s effort to mitigate climate change and why it wants to experiment with a new industry altogether – carbon capture and storage – to preserve its economy. Stories will be released throughout 2024.
Read the series:
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Kern County is California's largest oil producer and a top producer of agricultural products. But climate change — and the state’s effort to mitigate it — pose a threat to those economic mainstays. -
The first carbon storage facility in Kern County, California, will only produce a handful of permanent positions. -
Experts say extensive monitoring of the sites will be required to ensure safety. -
The state’s taxpayers may be left with a big bill.
California has set carbon-neutrality goals for 2045 in a move away from fossil fuels to combat global warming. Kern County is at the epicenter of this transition's push and pull. KVPR News' Joshua Yeager is tracking the developments in the changing energy landscape.