Two Democratic state senators in California on Wednesday introduced legislation to ban various well stimulation technologies, including hydraulic fracturing (fracking), along with establishing a 2,500-foot setback for wells from the population.

Its authors — state Sens. Scott Wiener (San Francisco) and Monique Limon (Santa Barbara) — characterize Senate Bill (SB) 467 as being a boost for both climate change mitigation and public health, while industry sources pushed back hard questioning the legal and economic viability of the proposed measures, contending they would kill thousands of good paying jobs.

There are 162,182 oil and gas wells statewide, including 32,957 active wells, according to the California Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM). Among the active wells,...