Dear Senator Mitchell and Senator Leno:
The Culver City Democratic Club has been active in local, state and national politics since 1953. We are pleased to inform you that we support SB 1132. Culver City is adjacent to, and partially within, the Baldwin Hills/Inglewood Oil field, where enhanced well stimulations are taking place. Our club represent the Democratic voice in Culver City. Our website is culvercitydemocraticclub.com/.
We oppose the use of enhanced well-stimulation techniques due to the potential harm to water quality, water availability, air quality, wildlife habitat, seismic safety and climate change. As such, we support a moratorium on oil and gas well stimulation. SB 1132 is a well written bill that ensures that independent analysis and proper regulations are in place prior to fracking our geologically complex state. We strongly support a moratorium until we can determine if and how enhanced well stimulation operations can be conducted safely.
Fracking, acidization (acid fracking) and other “well stimulation” and injection operations have already been proven to cause substantial problems outside of California. Modern fracking in California bears more in common with other states current fracking than it does with the fracking here 60 years ago. These extreme extraction techniques and their associated activities have been linked to groundwater and surface water contamination, air pollution, increased greenhouse gas emissions, loss of farmland and open space and earthquakes around the country. These techniques rely on high volumes of freshwater that in return is polluted to an extent that makes the water un-usable. The water is effectively removed from the water cycle. Using water for resource extraction during a drought is simply short-sighted and ill-advised.
In California, the oil and gas industry’s use of well stimulation has been increasing and is expected to accelerate in the future. Given the critical lack of information on the safety of fracking as it pertains to water quality, air quality, green house gases, seismic safety, and human toxicity, we believe the proposed language in Public Resources Code section 3161(g) is unnecessary. There is no vested right to Hydraulically Fracture a well. It is entirely reasonable to place a moratorium on fracking until it is determined whether adequate regulations which protect the public and the environment can be developed. The temporary prohibition of fracking does not permanently prevent the extraction of oil and gas, nor effect existing wells that employ conventional technology.
SB 1132 establishes a sensible approach that will help ensure that California’s important assets—including a healthy workforce, clean water, growing clean energy sectors, greenhouse gas reduction and a resilient economy—are not permanently damaged. Again, we support SB 1132, thank you for introducing it.