I got 2 things in my inbox this afternoon about Fracking …
The first came via Dick Whittington from CREDO:
“The California Senate just caved to the fracking industry.
Dear Dick,
Yesterday, our fracking moratorium bill died on the floor of the California Senate because eight cowardly Democrats voted against it or chose not to cast a vote.
Democratic Senators Lou Correa, Cathleen Galgiani, Ed Hernandez, and Norma Torres joined Republicans in voting against the bill. And Democratic Senators Marty Block, Ben Hueso, Ricardo Lara and Richard Roth abstained from the final vote.
By caving to pressure from the oil industry, these senators made it clear that they care less about their constituents’ health, safety and prosperity than Big Oil’s money and political clout.
We always knew the fight in the Legislature would be difficult. The oil industry spent a jaw-dropping $15 million on lobbying during the 2013-2014 legislative session buying influence in Sacramento. But it’s still appalling, disappointing and deeply frustrating to see Democrats vote with Big Oil.
Still, this is just a temporary setback, not the end of the fight to ban fracking in California. An overwhelming majority of Californians oppose fracking, and they will not stop fighting to protect their communities from the public health risks, earthquakes, and climate change caused by this toxic method of oil extraction.
We want to hear from you about what CREDO should do next to fight fracking. Please click here and take a 30-second survey to help us decide what big fights to take on next.
CREDO activists played a key role in the fight to pass SB 1132. We submitted nearly 22,000 letters of support for the bill, reported making more than 2,300 calls in support of the bill, packed every committee hearing to speak out for the bill, and led a dozen meetings with our legislators to urge their support.
And, although the bill failed, most Democrats listened. Of the 16 Democrats who voted for Senator Holly Mitchell’s and Mark Leno’s bill, six — Senators Ellen Corbett, Mark DeSaulnier, Loni Hancock, Hannah-Beth Jackson, Ted Lieu and Lois Wolk — signed on as co-authors. Eight more — Senators Jim Beall, Kevin de León, Noreen Evans, Carol Liu, William Monning, Alex Padilla, Fran Pavley and Darrell Steinberg — voted for the bill yesterday. Senator Jerry Hill voted for the bill earlier in the week, but, according to his office, missed the vote yesterday because he wasn’t in the room.
We can’t afford to dwell on this defeat. The oil industry has a lot of power to get its way in Sacramento and a lot of money, but from the fight against the Keystone XL pipeline to local campaigns to ban fracking in cities across the country, we’ve seen the power of grassroots activism to overcome Big Oil — so we have to double down and keep organizing to protect California from fracking.”
The second came to me from the State of California:
“The California Department of Conservation (DOC) today is giving public notice regarding the re-adoption of interim regulations to govern oil and gas well stimulation treatment until DOC’s proposed permanent regulations are completed and become effective. The interim well stimulation regulations were initially established on January 1, 2014. The proposed permanent regulations were publicly noticed on
November 15, and DOC anticipates that the permanent regulations will be effective on January 1, 2015.
These interim regulations were established under an emergency rulemaking process to ensure that they were in place when Senate Bill 4 became effective on January 1, 2014. These interim rules ensure that there is a regulatory structure consistent with Senate Bill 4 in place for well stimulation activities between January 1, 2014 and January 1, 2015. However, state law states that emergency rulemaking such as these interim regulations only have a 6-month lifespan before they must be extended. This readoption of the Interim Regulations serves to extend those rules. The Notice of Proposed Emergency Rulemaking Action and the text of the SB 4 Interim Well Stimulation Treatment Regulations are attached. The emergency rulemaking process includes a limited opportunity to submit comments on the proposed regulations. Information about the process for submitting comments is included in the attached notice. (I have not included them here in this post.)
For more information about well stimulation treatment and DOC’s proposed regulations please visit http://www.conservation.ca.gov.”