Fracking Our Farmland, from page 9 contaminated with toxic chemicals and is then disposed of as wastewater. These chemicals permeate and contaminate groundwater and local streams, leaving lifeless polluted waterways. Toxic air contaminants are released during fracking that have caused grave illness in nearby residents. (10)(20)(233) Radioactive elements from the earth’s deep core are brought to the surface and become part of the air, soil, and water contamination. Plugs in old wells may burst, allowing for even more massive contamination of private wells and aquifers, similar to what has happened in Montana. (3) Fracking has been shown to induce earthquakes in a variety of states. (12) (13)(14)(15)(16) (52)(53)(54)(55)(115)(166)(167) To make matters worse, as the U.S. focuses our attention on high pressure horizontal fracking, an older unregulated, but no less toxic, method of oil and gas extraction is being used called “acid” extraction. “Acid jobs” are an old well completion method that involves pumping chemicals, such as hydrofluoric acid, into wells to melt rocks to allow more of the oil to flow. Companies are not required to report when they do it. (173) Oil and gas extraction are exempted from provisions of seven major federal environmental protections: The Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Superfund law (regulation of hazardous spills), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (regulation of hazardous waste), the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Toxic Release Inventory. (100)(101)(102)(125)(239) With little federal oversight of the oil and gas industry, scientists and public health experts feel regulations and enforcement in California, and the rest of the nation, are insufficient to handle the expected increase in oil and gas extraction and protect the environment, the public, or our global climate. “We’re just seeing the tip of the iceberg of what’s coming,” he said of the drilling for Monterey Shale oil here. “It could enrich the state beyond belief, but it could also destroy it.” Rex Parris, attorney and mayor of Lancaster, California (58)
Frack to Tap
The tragic aftermath of fracking is visible in Montana, Texas, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and North Dakota, but especially in Pennsylvania, 10 | THE BULLETIN | SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2013
where Dimock residents don’t have to worry about a steady supply of natural gas in their homes because it comes right out of their faucets. In fact, residents have fully documented the unique ability to light their kitchen tap water on fire. Other states have documented the same. (1)(2)(147)(156) (157)
Boom and Bust
Some predict we will have a gas and oil boom here in California like the 1849 Gold Rush, especially in the Monterey Shale territory where “unconventional” deeper drilling is necessary for extraction. What will happen to our Golden State, if this continues? Will it be transformed overnight, like North Dakota, into a polluted industrial wasteland where NASA can see the wasted flared natural gas from outer space? (301(302) Or as in Dimock, Pennsylvania, where they have to truck in drinking water to farms? Quick cash, but with larger long term problems that threaten not only our economy, but our health and way of life.
California Dreaming
In California, we have three unique features that make the possibility of increased deep fracking much more frightening. Food: We have produced the majority of the country’s fruits and vegetables for over 50 years, due to California’s year-round temperate climate and rich soil. We are the number one dairy state. (140) (141) (276) Water: We have an increasing scarcity of water with nature and farms already competing. Government agencies agree we have a water crisis in California. (169) Earthquakes: The Monterey Shale is very close to the San Andreas Fault. (169) Do we really need a flash of oil and gas development to stimulate the economy, or will oil and gas undermine our sustainability goals? California has the opportunity to build on our already strong economy with clean sustainable energy sources including solar, wind, and energy conservation.
Frackings Downsides
• Air pollution • Water contamination – aquifers, wells, rivers, drinking water