Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday he will halt all new fracking permits in California starting in 2024, using his executive authority to take on the state’s powerful oil and gas industry in a year he will likely face voters in a recall election, KTLA reported. Fracking -- short for hydraulic fracturing, the process of extracting oil and gas embedded in rock deep underground -- accounts for a small portion of the state’s oil and gas production each year. But environmental advocates have long sought its banishment because of its harmful effects on the environment and public health. If successful, California would become the largest oil-producing state to ban fracking. But Newsom has his eyes set on a bigger goal of ending all oil production in the state by 2045. Friday, he ordered state regulators to come up with a plan on how to do that.