Nine members of the California Legislature delivered a letter on January 7, 2014 requesting Governor Jerry Brown issue an executive order to prohibit the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources within the Department of Conservation from allowing fracking in California until health and environmental concerns are addressed. The letter was signed by Assemblymembers Marc Levine (D-San Rafael), Das Williams (D-Santa Barbara), Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica), Adrin Nazarian (D-Van Nuys), Bonnie Lowenthal (D-Long Beach), Phil Ting (D- San Francisco) and Senators Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa), Lois Wolk (D-Vacaville) and Loni Hancock (D-Oakland).
The letter is part of an advocacy campaign by CREDO Action, a social change organization that supports activism and funds progressive non-profits using revenues from their mobile telephone company, CREDO Mobile. CREDO Action has initiated 65 campaigns in California to ban fracking in cities and counties. More than 30,000 Californians have signed CREDO’s petition. CREDO has arranged for 1,200 phone calls to the Legislature and has held dozens of regional meetings on fracking. Their objective is to hold Governor Brown accountable for his support of oil development.
Robert W. Howarth, the David R. Atkinson Professor of Ecology and Environmental Biology at Cornell University, provided background information during a press call announcing the delivery of the letter to Governor Brown. Fracking generates air pollution. He said that the ozone levels in rural Colorado where fracking is occurring exceeds the ozone levels in Los Angeles. Fracking is at the forefront of major technological innovation—about half of the developed shale worldwide has been developed within the past three years. Most waste is reinjected into wells that increase seismic risk. Fracking will also extend the use of fossil fuels and, therefore, contribute to the risk of climate change. Fracking also has significant methane emissions that can further accelerate climate change.
The press call also addressed the water use of fracking. Professor Howarth stated that each fracked well uses 5 million gallons of water (15.34 acre-feet). The life cycle of fracked wells is short—about 2/3rds of total production is secured within a year and wells are phased out within three years. Therefore, Professor Howarth envisions that fracking California oil fields will entail a continuous fracking of wells to maintain production.
Assemblyman Levine and CREDO representatives also challenge the wisdom of using water for fracking given California’s ongoing drought and land subsidence in California from groundwater overdraft.
How much fracking is there in California? According to an interview of Mark Nechodom, director of California’s Department of Conservation, published in the National Journal on October 16, 2013, there are about 650 fracking jobs a year. This translates into an estimated water use of almost 10,000 acre-feet per year.
Written by Rodney T. Smith