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California legislators call for fracking moratorium

by Dan Bacher
"As you know, California values protecting our environment and public health and safety," the nine legislators wrote. "Current studies show fracking threatens California’s precious water supply, further disrupts our approach to mitigate the dangerous impacts of climate change, exacerbates our air pollution problems, and the disposal of wastewater associated with fracking may increase seismic activity."

Photo: A big crowd attended the hearing on proposed fracking regulations at the EPA building in Sacramento on Monday, January 6.
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California legislators call for fracking moratorium

by Dan Bacher

Nine California Legislators on January 7 sent a letter to Governor Jerry Brown asking that he issue an executive order to prohibit the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) within the Department of Conservation from allowing fracking in the state until health and environmental concerns are addressed.

Legislators signing the letter include Marc Levine, Assemblymember, 10th Assembly District; Das Williams, Assemblymember, 37th Assembly District; Adrin Nazarian, Assemblymember, 46th Assembly District; Richard Bloom, Assemblymember, 50th Assembly District; Loni Hancock, State Senator, 9th Senate District; Bonnie Lowenthall, Assemblymember, 70th Assembly District; Noreen Evans, State Senator, 2nd Senate District; Phil Ting, Assemblymember, 19th Assembly District; and Lois Wolk, State Senator, 3rd Senate District;

"The vast public health and safety implications of fracking, as well as the tremendous public concern over this practice, require our collective and urgent action," they wrote. "We believe it is time to join with Californians who disapprove of the dangers fracking poses to their communities."

The legislators noted that they joined CREDO Action in calling for this moratorium - and attached to their letter a petition on this issue circulated by CREDO Action and signed by thousands of Californians.

"As you know, California values protecting our environment and public health and safety," they said. "Current studies show fracking threatens California’s precious water supply, further disrupts our approach to mitigate the dangerous impacts of climate change, exacerbates our air pollution problems, and the disposal of wastewater associated with fracking may increase seismic activity."

"Therefore, we respectfully request that you impose a moratorium on fracking while you fully investigate the science behind fracking for oil production," they concluded.

The letter is available at: http://asmdc.org/members/a10/.

The 60-day public comment period for the proposed regulations for "well stimulation treatment" for oil and gas production authorized by Senator Fran Pavley's Senate Bill 4 began on November 15 and will end on January 15. The California Department of Conservation (DOC) said there will likely be an additional 45-day public comment period later in 2014.

Zack Malitz, Campaign Manager of CREDO Action from Working Assets, said the most important flaw in Governor Brown's fracking regulations is that they allow fracking, as well as other dangerous oil-extraction techniques like acidizing, in which huge quantities of acid are injected underground. The regulations provide the green light to the expansion of fracking and acidizing in California.

"There are no regulations that can make fracking safe," emphasized Malitz. "However it's regulated, fracking contaminates water, produces toxic air pollution, creates dangerous wastewater, industrializes communities, and accelerates climate change by allowing the fossil fuel industry to burn and extract otherwise inaccessible oil and gas."

Click here to submit a public comment: http://act.credoaction.com/letter/doggr_comments/?akid=9712.300166.WWBznt&rd=1&t=2

On Monday, so many people showed up to attend the public comment hearing on draft fracking regulations in Sacramento that state officials had to find a larger room in the EPA building to accomodate the crowd.

Over 80 percent of the people that attended, including representatives of the Sierra Club, Food and Water Watch, Center for Biological Diversity and other organizations, supported a moratorium or ban on the controversial oil extraction process. Representatives of the Western States Petroleum Association and other oil industry organizations praised the regulations for being the "strongest" and "strictest" fracking regulations in the nation.
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by Pat Snelling
Where are they going to get the WATER to pump down in the WELLS? From Folsom Dam? From the Delta? If so.....the Ocean Water would rush in the Delta where the water agencies get the PUBLIC's water ....

Energy Policy Act of 2005 -- Exempted disclosure of fluids used in the natural gas extraction process of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) from the LAWS under the --
Clean Air Act,
Clean Water Act,
Safe Drinking Water Act.

Wonder how much fracking would happen if these LAWS were put back????
by Beeline
In a study of 141 water wells near a fracking area conducted by Duke University, it was found that many of the wells had 6 times the amount of methane, 23 times the amount of ethane and 200 times the amount of radium after fracking occurred in the area. 7 percent of the water wells also contained propane. The Duke researchers also made the point that fracking contaminates the air as well as the water.

David Brown, a toxicologist for the Southwest Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project had this to say about fracking: "The people often placed at risk are not necessarily benefiting or employed by the oil and gas extraction industry. They are free citizens who have had these risks imposed on them. No one, especially ourselves as public health officials can assure people who live, work or attend school near drilling and fracking operations that they are safe".

It is also a basic reality that no one charged with inspecting oil and gas wells looks for leaks down hole. They basically assume that the drilling mud (also toxic) seals the well bore during drilling and that the cement poured around the casing seals the upper well bore from leaks but there are no guarantees. Gas released in the fracking process frequently migrates upward via porous layers of rock, small faults and along the outside of the well casing, especially in older wells.

Remember- fracking is designed to release gas and that's what it does. No man made system can harvest 100 percent of the gas that is released and keep it from getting into the water and air.

The proposed fracking zones could become "sacrifice" areas, where, like in West Virginia people suffer from the deadly diseases caused by coal mining which also pollutes the air and water big time.

We the tax payers of America should not be forced to live in an oil field because oil and gas fields are not safe for man or beast.


by David Lango (max.dl80 [at] gmail.com)
All this uproar about hydraulic fracturing putting contaminants in the ground, yet not one word about Geo-engineering and the folks spraying nano-aluminum to block out the Sun. These good people are told they are fighting "global warming" by spraying Chemtrails.

The establishment is spraying poison on us without our knowledge or consent.

It's right there up in the sky, streaks clear across from one horizon to the other, but as effective as media censorship is, folks ignore Chemtrails, and get riled up about what they cannot even see.
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