SENATE RULES COMMITTEE SR 51
Office of Senate Floor Analyses
(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) 327-4478
THIRD READING
Bill No: SR 51
Author: Becker (D)
Amended: 6/25/25
Vote: Majority
SENATE NATURAL RES. & WATER COMMITTEE: 6-0, 7/8/25
AYES: Limón, Allen, Grove, Hurtado, Laird, Stern
NO VOTE RECORDED: Seyarto
SUBJECT: Protecting The Amazon Rainforest In Ecuador
SOURCE: Amazon Watch
DIGEST: This resolution commends the advocacy of the Nacionalidad Waorani
del Ecuador, the Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador, the
Nacionalidad Kichwa de Pastaza, and their communities for their steadfast work in
protecting the Amazon biome and safeguarding the future for their children and
our entire planet, and commits the Senate to investigating the impact of
California’s role in the consumption of crude sourced from the Amazon region and
exploring ways that changes to state policies and practices can assist with efforts to
preserve and protect the Amazon rainforest.
ANALYSIS:
This resolution makes the following legislative findings:
1) The Amazon basin is critical for the health of our planet and climate.
2) The Amazon is threatened by deforestation and degradation, driven by large
scale agribusiness, the extractive industry, illegal logging, and other activities
that have caused the Amazon to reach a dangerous ecological tipping point.
3) Indigenous people play an essential role in the protection of the Amazon and its
biodiversity.
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4) An overwhelming majority of Ecuadorians voted in a national referendum to
keep 847,000,000 barrels of crude permanently in the ground in Ecuador’s
Yasuní National Park to fight climate change and protect the rights of
indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation.
5) California has been a global leader in addressing climate change and has made
important commitments and ambitious goals to reduce its carbon dioxide
emissions in line with the Paris Agreement.
6) In 2023, the State of California endorsed the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation
Treaty, a global initiative aimed at accelerating the transition to clean energy
and equitably phasing out fossil fuel production.
7) Three indigenous leaders from the Ecuadorian Amazon have come to
Sacramento to educate California’s decisionmakers on the status of
deforestation in the Amazon and to explore opportunities to work together on
solutions.
8) Like other communities around the world, California’s fate is interconnected to
the health and preservation of the Amazon basin and we are linked in our
consumption of natural resources extracted from the Amazon.
This resolution:
1) Commends the advocacy of the Nacionalidad Waorani del Ecuador, the
Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador, the Nacionalidad
Kichwa de Pastaza, and their communities for their steadfast work in protecting
the Amazon biome and safeguarding the future for their children and our entire
planet.
2) Commits the Senate to investigating the impact of California’s role in the
consumption of crude sourced from the Amazon region and exploring ways that
changes to state policies and practices can assist with efforts to preserve and
protect the Amazon rainforest.
Background
The Amazon rainforest. The Amazon, covering a broad swath of South America
and multiple countries, is home to over 10% of the planet’s known species,
numerous indigenous peoples, and is an important component of the Earth’s
hydrological and carbon cycles. In the last several decades, increasing
deforestation – now estimated to be on the order of 20% with another 6% degraded
–for settlement, illegal logging, agricultural, and industrial purposes has adversely
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impacted the Amazon, its biodiversity, and its ecological and climate resiliency.
Recent scientific research suggests that the Amazon will reach an ecological
“tipping point” at 25% deforestation and convert to savannah conditions with
disruptive impact to biodiversity, the peoples who live there, and the Earth’s
climate. Massive wildfires in recent years have had both immediate local and
worldwide impacts.
Ecuador. Ecuador, located in northwestern South America, includes on the order
of 52,400 square miles of the Amazon. Ecuador was in recession in 2024 with an
economic contraction of about 2.5% due in part to high rates of violence, political
uncertainty, and energy shortages, according to the World Bank. The energy
shortages were due to the worst drought in 60 years impacting hydroelectric
generation. In 2023, Ecuador’s primary commodity exports were crude petroleum,
shellfish and fish, bananas, and gold.
According to the US Energy Information Administration (USEIA), Ecuador has
0.5% of the world’s oil reserves (at about 8.3 billion barrels) and produced
approximately 482,000 barrels per day of petroleum and other liquids, primarily
from its Amazon region in 2022. State-owned Petroecuador produced about 80%
of the country’s oil production and also controls refining. Mineral rights are
owned by the federal government in Ecuador, although several indigenous peoples
– the Sápara, Shiawiar, Kichwa, Waorani, Achuar, and Shuar – collectively hold
title to millions of hectares of land in and around the Ecuadorean Amazon where
the oil reserves are located. There is indigenous resistance to continued oil
development, and the legal framework to obtain consent from indigenous peoples
for oil development is considered ineffective by many. Recent reviews and
surveys show an association between health problems – such as cancer – and oil
development in Ecuador, particularly in indigenous populations, likely stemming
from contamination by hazardous compounds. According to the sponsor,
indigenous resistance has resulted in oil majors leaving Ecuador.
Ecuador’s oil industry has struggled to maintain production because of aging
fields, pipeline disruptions, and environmental concerns. Pipeline disruptions have
increased in recent years. Both pipelines have also been affected by natural
disasters and protests. Production fell by almost 18% from January to February
2023 due to pipeline restrictions.
In August 2023, the citizens of Ecuador voted by nearly a 20% margin to reject oil
development in Yasuní National Park in its Amazon region. Estimates vary, but
reserves on the order of over 700 million barrels are located there. The initiative
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required that there was one year for 247 wells to be plugged-and-abandoned. After
one year, one well was plugged-and-abandoned. Court orders were ignored by the
operator.
The federal government of Ecuador continues to plan to hold auctions of additional
oil blocks totaling about 2.3 million hectares of intact Amazon rainforest starting in
the 1st quarter of 2026 with the goal of increasing production by 600,000 barrels
per day by the early 2030s. These oil blocks have no existing oil infrastructure or
production. This rainforest is home to the Sapara, Shiwiar, Kichwa, Waorani,
Andoa, Shuar, and Achuar peoples who oppose the drilling. The federal
government of Ecuador’s oil development plans include additional pipelines and a
new coastal refinery.
California and oil from Ecuador. In 2024, Ecuador was the #4 source of imported
oil to the state’s refineries at 43.8 million barrels. This was about 14% of the oil
imported that year. In-state production produced 23.3% of the oil refined in the
state that year (510.7 million barrels). In previous years, larger amounts and
higher percentages of the state’s imported oil were sourced from Ecuador.
According to materials provided by Amazon Watch, California is the top consumer
of crude oil from the Amazon rainforest. Approximately 50% of all oil exported
from the Amazon goes to California refineries.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local: No
SUPPORT: (Verified 7/9/25)
Amazon Watch (sponsor)
350 Bay Area Action
California Environmental Voters
Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment
Climate Hawks Vote
Friends Committee on Legislation of California
Friends of the Earth - US
Natural Resources Team, Climate Action California
Oil and Gas Action Network
Pesticide Action and Agroecology Network (PAN)
San Francisco Bay Physicians for Social Responsibility
SanDiego350
Stand.earth
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Sunflower Alliance
The Climate Center
OPPOSITION: (Verified 7/9/25)
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the author, “SR 51 is a resolution
that connects the California Senate to a matter of global urgency: protecting the
Amazon rainforest, defending Indigenous rights, and confronting our shared
climate crisis. Ecuador’s Yasuní National Park in the Amazon rainforest – one of
the most biodiverse places on Earth – over 5 million people recently voted in a
national referendum to keep nearly 850 million barrels of oil in the ground–a
powerful act of climate leadership. But instead of honoring that vote, Ecuador’s
government continues to drill – and is opening up more rainforest to oil extraction.
Why does this matter to California? Because California is one of the top importers
of crude oil from the Amazon. That oil is refined in places like Richmond and
Wilmington – communities already burdened by pollution. And when we burn it,
we send greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, accelerating the climate crisis
that’s drying the Amazon and worsening wildfires here at home. This resolution
calls on us to investigate our role in Amazon oil consumption and explore how
California policy can help protect this critical biome. It’s a call for solidarity –
with Indigenous defenders, with the planet, and with future generations.”
Prepared by: Katharine Moore / N.R. & W. / (916) 651-4116
7/9/25 17:52:30
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