Who We Are
Our Staff
Meet our small but mighty staff team working to build community power in the fight for a transition away from fossil fuels to a clean energy future.
Our Leadership
Meet our Board of Directors and Advisory Board who lead our work with incredible expertise and community-based knowledge.
Our Story
In 2013, a group of local residents got wind of proposed oil drilling in their neighborhood. Concerned about health and environmental hazards, they researched the impacts of local drilling operations – only to discover that hard data was not available to the public. Ventura County desperately needed an organized effort to monitor oil and gas drilling, and advocate for policies that protect the environment and public health.
Over the last 10 years, CFROG has gained a growing and more diverse team, coalition partnerships across the region and state, significant policy and watchdogging wins, and multiple programs expanding across the energy transition advocacy space.
Where We Work
California’s Central Coast is the third largest region producing oil and gas in California — threatening our health and economy. We’re also on the frontlines of the climate crisis — wildfires, flooding, extreme heat, and more — caused by this industry.
CFROG primarily serves Ventura County, with a focus on low-income communities and communities of color impacted by oil and gas drilling and infrastructure.
CFROG’s goal is to change who gets heard in the transition away from fossil fuels and ensure that solutions come from the most impacted populations, including frontline communities, youth, and labor.
Land Acknowledgment
We acknowledge that we engage on the traditional land of the first people of Ventura County, the Chumash People past and present and honor with gratitude the land itself and Chumash indigenous communities.
The land that Climate First: Replacing Oil & Gas (CFROG) works on has been the home to the Chumash indigenous communities for more than 15,000 years. Please join us in honoring these ancestral groups by expressing gratitude for the people who stewarded this land throughout the generations and continue to do so.
For thousands of years, Chumash communities have been caretakers of this environment. The climate crisis is a legacy of colonialism; rooted in the exploitation and degradation of the planet, peoples, and cultures. Many of CFROG’s staff and board members are settlers on this land as a result of this same colonialism. Indigenous leadership, knowledge, and innovation is critical to fighting fossil fuels and the transition to a just and sustainable economy. We celebrate the resilience and strength that all indigenous people have shown and continue to show on the Central Coast and beyond in the face of systemic injustice.