The suspected has just been verified - the fracking industry cannot be trusted. It has illegally contaminated California’s drinking and farm-irrigation waters.
Testing was ordered by the Environmental Protection Agency last July after suspicion of contamination led to the shut down of 11 injection sites.
Obtained by the Center for Biological Diversity, reports of that testing confirm that the oil industry illegally injected 3 billion gallons of wastewater contaminated with fracking fluids into the state’s aquifers. So far nine injection disposal wells have been identified.
Also found in water-supply wells close to the waste-disposal sites are high levels of other contaminates found in oil-industry wastewater - arsenic, nitrates and thallium, a toxin used in rat poison.
These aquifers are supposed to be protected by the federal Safe Drinking Water Act and CA state law, but the test results prove state regulators are not doing their job.
Ask Governor Brown for a moratorium on fracking until these threats to the safety of CA residents and the state's water supply are eliminated.
We, the undersigned, join the Center for Biological Diversity in its demand that Governor Brown take immediate action to “protect Californians and the environment from fracking.”
With the severe drought CA is now suffering, this bad news about fracking could not have come at a worse time. Not only is the industry using up to 140,000 to 150,000 gallons of water per frack operation every day - that water is being permanently removed from the water cycle. This is why many believe fracking is exacerbating the drought situation.
The industry is also disproportionately burdening the Central Valley region, which has a high rate of low-income residents and already suffers high air and water pollution - some of the worst in the state.
Furthermore, the testing done so far may not have revealed even the tip of the iceberg of the contamination. CBD says much more will be needed before the full extent of the threat to human health and the environment is known.
But in the meantime the known threats and the suspected adverse effects of fracking on the drought problem are enough to justify a moratorium on fracking.
We request that Governor Brown halt fracking immediately until these issues are fully resolved.
Thanks for your time.
