In Arvin, a small, agricultural town at the southern tip of the San Joaquin Valley, pollution is a pervasive part of life. Pesticides sprayed on industrial-scale farms, fumes drifting from the region’s ubiquitous oil and gas wells, exhaust from the trucks barreling down Interstate 5 — it all gets trapped in the valley, creating a thick haze. Studies have linked proximity to oil and gas extraction to a wide range of adverse health effects, including increased risk of asthma, respiratory illnesses, preterm birth, low birthweight and cancer. Yet California has no statewide rule on setbacks — a regulatory gap that is rare among the nation’s top oil producers. In Arvin, a group made up of mostly low-income Latinx residents, along with several other organizations, came together and approached Democratic Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi. He authored Assembly Bill 345, or AB 345, which mandates that California create a setback based on health and science data and environmental justice concerns by J...