• On July 9, the California Council on Science and Technology released the results of a study required by SB 4, a set of hydraulic fracking regulations authored by state Sen. Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills) passed into law last year. Jane Long, the report’s co-lead, spoke during a media conference call that day, saying that two thirds of the chemicals used in fracking operations within California are uncharacterized, meaning scientists don’t know what the toxicity or the environmental impacts could be. The report recommends that the state require a list of chemicals, classify chemicals that can be used, and characterize all of those chemicals’ environmental impacts. Long also said that of the hundreds of open pits storing fracking water in the state, about 1/3 of them are unlicensed and 1/3 of them are above drinkable groundwater that needs to be tested for contaminants. The report recommends that the water below those pits be tested and treated, or the pits need to be closed. Long spoke about induced seisimicity as well, saying that the correlation between underground injection wells and earthquakes was hard to track because of how much seismic activity there already is in California. We “recommend [the] state conduct a study of induced seismicity to ensure that this doesn’t happen as it does in other states,” Long said, referring to the correlation between fracking and increases in the number of earthquakes in places like Oklahoma. The report notes that there isn’t a reliable scientific estimate of the amount of recoverable oil in the Monterey Shale formation. Long said the state should request a scientic estimate from the U.S. Geological Survey. Sen. Pavley released a response to the report, saying that it validates her reasons for authoring the bill. “The scientist are emphatic that state regulators must protect underground sources of drinkable water from being contaminated by fracking in shallow wells and other potentially unsafe practices,” she said in a statement. “I will make a particular effort to pass legislation that phases out the use of about 900 so-called percolation ponds that threaten to taint groundwater basins. These ponds, which dispose of waste associated with fracking, other forms of enhanced oil recovery, and indeed, all drilling, pose a risk to the health of animals and humans.” SB 248, a current bill of Pavley’s that already passed out of the state Senate, will be amended to include some of the recommendations contained in the report.
This article appears in Jul 16-23, 2015.