Stop Oil Companies from Contaminating California's Remaining Water
- by: Susan V
- recipient: California Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr.
A news investigation revealed California state regulators have allowed oil companies to pump their wastewater into the states already depleted fresh water supply. Despite the state’s water crisis, this contamination has gone on for years!
The San Francisco Chronicle found data revealing that 170 clean aquifers were affected by these injections and “hundreds more” of lower-quality aquifers were contaminated with “a blend of briny water, hydrocarbons and trace chemicals.”
Earth Justice says CA’s Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) admits to “allowing thousands of oil industry wells to inject fluids, including wastewater, directly into protected aquifers, in clear violation of the law.” The organization is suing the California Department of Conservation (DOC) over its inappropriate response to the investigation - which allows the contamination to go on until 2017.
The lawsuit seeks invalidation of DOC’s so-called emergency action and an immediate end to the wastewater injections. But, lawsuits take time, and urgent action is needed. Already farmers are watering crops with oil wastewater.
Ask Governor Brown to intervene and Stop Oil Companies from Contaminating California's Remaining Water -NOW!
We, the undersigned, agree that DOC’s response to its own lax regulation is far from appropriate.
California is already dealing with a water supply crisis brought on by the worst recorded drought in the state’s history. But instead of focusing on the emergency caused by this disaster - that’s exacerbated by the wastewater injections - DOGGR, notes Earthjustice, characterized interrupting the oil industry’s pollution as an emergency and DOC ruled in its favor.
This illegal dumping, says the Center for Biological Diversity, “contaminates water because fracking flowback and other oil waste contains cancer-causing chemicals like benzene. As fracking expands, so does the toxic threat to our water and health.”
Visit http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/publications/maps/highlighted_maps/enhanced_oil_recovery_wells.html
Earthjustice contends that the wastewater injections DOGGR admits to are not only illegal and a serious health hazard, but they affect a large area of the state, from Monterey to Los Angeles counties.
Clearly there is no excuse for California’s Department of Conservation or Governor Brown to allow this contamination to continue while they await the outcome of the lawsuit.
We insist the DOC and Governor Brown take immediate action to stop these polluting wastewater injections.
Thanks for your time.
