Before:
– California Halts Fracking Waste Injections; Fears ‘Danger To Life, Health, & Natural Resources’
– U.S. Approves Fracking on Federal Land in California (AllGov News, Sep 7, 2014):
The federal government gave the green light for oil and gas companies in California to drill on federal lands using hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and acidization techniques after a receiving a report (pdf) from an independent, non-profit group created by the Legislature.
The California Council on Science and Technology enlisted Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Pacific Institute to do the study after U.S. District Judge Paul Grewal ruled last April that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) couldn’t approve 2,500 acres of land for oil and gas development until it studied the effects of well stimulation on the environment.
“The potential risk for contamination from fracking, while unknown, is not so remote or speculative to be completely ignored,” Grewal wrote.
The report essentially says: We studied well stimulation. Now it is known and can be completely ignored.
The report said groundwater is not in danger of contamination when pressurized water, unknown chemicals, acid or other materials are injected deep into the Earth. Earthquakes, air pollution from greenhouse gas emissions, impacts on wildlife and vegetation—not a problem.
Its assurances, taken by the BLM as sufficient cause to open the land up, did come with one large caveat: It didn’t have much current information:
“Much of the data available to analyze current practice come from voluntary sources plus six weeks of data from well stimulation notices required by SB4.”
The report acknowledges that there have been many instances of problems in other states, but California is different: “Available data suggests that present day well stimulation practices in California differ significantly from practices used for unconventional shale reservoirs in states such as North Dakota and Texas.”
So they “are not necessarily applicable.”
Acidization isn’t used as often in California as other states: “These technologies are not expected to lead to major increases in oil and gas development in the state.”
So, skip that.
Most, but not all, of the chemicals used were of low-toxicity. However, “Approximately one-third of the chemicals had insufficient available information for evaluation. This toxicological assessment is limited….Further review of the constituents of injection fluids used in well stimulation jobs in California is needed.”
The Center for Biological Diversity, whose lawsuit last year triggered the study, was not happy. “A few months of incomplete data simply can’t support a federal decision to resume selling off our public lands in California to oil companies,” said Kassie Siegel, director of the center’s Climate Law Institute. “Using this report as a basis for continued fracking in California is illogical and illegal.”
It may be illogical, but right now it’s legal.
More info on fracking:
– Just 4 Fracking Wastewater Sites Cause 20% Of All Central US Earthquakes
– Will Fracking Cause Our Next Nuclear Disaster?
– Allow Fracking In NATIONAL PARKS, Says UK Environment Agency Chief
– WTF: North Carolina GOP Pushes Unprecedented Bill To Jail Anyone Who Discloses Fracking Chemicals
– Exxon CEO Fights Fracking … When It Comes Near His Texas Ranch
– Fracking Is Draining Water From US Areas Suffering Major Shortages
– Fracking’s Terrifying Water Usage Trends Spell Disaster
– Prof. Chris Busby For RT: Wrecking The Earth: Fracking Has GRAVE RADIATION Risks Few Talk About
– Texas: The Worst Drought In Two Generations Is Choking Water Supply, Which Is Why Residents Now Turn Against Fracking
– ‘The Real Threat: Acid Jobs’
– Fracking Our Food Supply – Livestock Falling Ill In Fracking Regions
– David Letterman On Fracking:‘We’re Screwed’ (Video)
– Human-Made Earthquakes Reported In Central U.S (Reuters)
– US Government Confirms Link Between Earthquakes And Fracking
– European Gas Giant Backs French Fear Of Fracking
– Texas Forces Firms To Open Up On ‘Fracking’
– Fracking Hell: Toxic And Radioactive Waste – The Untold Story
– The Oil and Gas Industry’s 800-Pound Gorilla: RADIATION!
– ‘Fracking’ Result (= Contamination) For UK Shale Gas Will Be Kept Secret Until 2015
– US: Natural Gas Wells’ Contaminated Water Hits Rivers
– GASLAND Trailer 2010 (Documentary)
We are suffering the worst drought in centuries, and the greedy guts want to frack what water we have left, making it undrinkable? WTF?
This state is turning into a desert. We have Fukushima cooking us with radiation, we have other nuclear accidents hitting us from the north and east…….
Insanity.