Take Action Now: Support Bill to Ban Fracking in California. Fracking is a technique used to extract natural gas whereby millions of gallons of water mixed with sand and highly toxic chemicals are injected into the earth. This process has been proven to result in massive environmental effects including wasting large quantities of scarce water resources, ground water contamination, air pollution and earth quakes.
Please take action to ban fracking in California by supporting Senate Bill 1132, which will prohibit fracking until the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency convenes a committee to review a scientific study and put specific measures in place to ensure that fracking does not pose a threat to the public health and welfare or to the environmental and economic sustainability of the state.
SB1132 is strong on addressing the environmental justice issues raised by fracking. Residents living close to fracking wells or downstream of fracking wells are exposed to hazardous chemicals. This exposure has been illustrated to cause negative health impacts. As Senator Mitchell points out: “There are a million Angelenos that live within a 5-mile radius of the largest urban oil field in the country…when industrial operations like fracking and acidization disproportionately impact minority communities, environmental justice has been breached and needs to be restored. SB 1132 will do that.”
We are thankful for Senator Leno’s comments that “a moratorium on fracking is especially critical as California faces a severe drought with water resources at an all-time low.” While the current drought in California has highlighted the issues related to water and fracking, it is our perspective that fracking is never an acceptable use of the state’s water. Water is scarce in California even when we are not in drought conditions.
Please click here to take action. Ask SB 1132 sponsors to strengthen requirements for environmental assessments for fracking and to ensure that adequate time is provided for public participation in the review process.
EPIC is collaborating with a larger coalition of organizations to support SB1132 and has submitted a letter of support to Senator Leno and Senator Mitchell, thanking them for introducing the bill.