Assemblymember Monique Limón (D-Santa Barbara) is backing initiatives that support chemical reporting transparency for oil and gas extractions and equality for farmers of color, through Assembly bills 1328 and 1348, respectively.
AB 1328 will require oil and gas companies to report chemicals used for non-fracking oil and gas operations, according to Denise Tugade, communications and legislative aide for Limón.
“What our bill is doing is closing a loophole,” Tugade told the Sun.
She said oil and gas companies who use fracking—hydraulic fracturing, where water and chemicals shoot into cracks in the earth to open them up and extract oil—are required by state law to report the chemicals they use for extraction, maintenance, and operations.
“But for other types of extraction processes, there is no disclosure for the chemicals being used,” Tugade said.
A recent study from Physicians, Scientists, and Engineers (PSE) Healthy Energy showed hazardous chemicals sometimes go unregulated in routine oil and gas operations, identifying 22 chemicals on the California Toxic Air Contaminant List and 10 on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Drinking Water Standards and Health Advisories List.
Limón’s bill would require a quarterly chemical report on drilling, well maintenance, routine acidizing, and well completions, according to a press release.
The State Water Resources Control Board or an appropriate Regional Water Quality Control Board would then have to use information from the quarterly report to adjust water quality standards for issuing permits for surface discharge of water produced in oil fields.
“If we don’t even know what’s in those wells, how can we treat that water correctly?” Tugade said.
The bill will next head to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
Limón has also undertaken a push for equality for farmers of color by co-authoring AB 1348, commonly known as the Farmer Equity Act. The bill defines “socially disadvantaged farmers” in the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s (CDFA) Food and Agriculture code.
Under the Farmer Equity Act, socially disadvantaged farmers would comprise those from groups whose members have been subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice without regard to their individual qualities, including people who are black, Native American, Alaskan native, Hispanic, Asian, Hawaiian native, and Pacific Islander.
Historically, farmers of color tend to farm on less land, earn less money, and receive 36 percent less in government funding than their white counterparts, according to a bill summary from author Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters).
The bill aims to ensure these farmers are included in CDFA programs and policies aimed to support socially disadvantaged farmers, the summary said. The CDFA will also be required to prepare a report by July 1, 2019, on the agency’s efforts to serve socially disadvantaged farmers and identify community-based groups that also provide services to that group.
A press release from the Pesticide Action Network of North America quoted Limón saying California “can and should” lead the way in investing in farmers.
“California farmers, particularly farmers from underrepresented communities, have historically faced numerous obstacles,” Limón said in the release, “but accessing government resources should not be one of them.”
The House Committee on Agriculture was scheduled to hear the bill on April 26, but the hearing had not occurred as of the Sun’s press time.
This article appears in Apr 27 – May 4, 2017.