No Fracking Secrets
Hydraulic fracturing -- fracking -- forces massive amounts of chemical-laced water deep underground, under extremely high pressure, to break apart rock and extract oil and gas. The devastation fracking brings to air, water and health has been well publicized, but few people know fracking is already happening in California -- without meaningful oversight from the state or federal government.
The Center for Biological Diversity's already in litigation to stop the leasing of new federal lands for fracking in California -- where regulators don't even track when or where oil and gas wells are fracked, or how much water or chemicals are used.
Now, California's Assembly Bill 591 could help protect Californians from fracking by requiring disclosure of this information. But it needs to be strengthened to ensure companies can't withhold which chemicals are used and in what amounts.
Help pass a strong bill that lays a foundation for protecting California's drinking water and environment.
Dear Senator:
Please remove industry loopholes from A.B. 591 and a pass a bill requiring disclosure of chemicals used in fracking in California.
We now have the opportunity to avoid the contamination and devastation that hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas has caused in other states, but we cannot do so if regulators continue to turn a blind eye as fracking expands in California. The critical first step is requiring full disclosure of information on wells that are already being fracked here. I strongly urge you to amend A.B. 591 to remove the "trade secret" loophole that would allow fracking operators to withhold critical information about industrial chemicals they inject into California's ground, water and environment.
As a California resident, I have a right to know what chemicals are being injected into our environment. I call on you to remove the "trade secrets" loophole from A.B. 591 and pass a strong bill requiring full public disclosure of chemicals used in fracking in California.
