When the word “California” is mentioned, many think of the state’s iconic ocean beaches, towering ancient redwood trees, snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountains, rushing rivers filled with snow melt runoff, meandering Delta waterways, and scenic Joshua Tree-studded deserts.
But there’s another, much darker side to the state. California under the Jerry Brown administration, in spite of its highly overrated reputation as a “green leader” in the nation, suffers from some of the most destructive and unjust environmental policies in the country.
These include water policies on the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta that are driving Delta smelt, winter run Chinook salmon and other fish species closer and closer to extinction; support for fracking for oil off the Southern California Coast; and Governor Brown’s legacy project, the Delta Tunnels Plan, considered by many to be the most environmentally destructive public works project.
More recently, yet another potential threat to public health and the environment has been exposed by independent journalists, environmental organizations and anti-corporate groups: the use of minimally treated waste from oil drilling to irrigate California’s crops.
This coming Saturday, concerned consumers will gather in cities across the state on Saturday to talk to shoppers about this alarming practice, according to a statement from Californians Against Fracking.
Participants in Saturday’s day of action, concerned that local water officials are planning to expand the practice without confirming its safety, will collect signatures for a petition calling on the governor and the State Water Board to ban this practice that could be jeopardizing the health of the millions of consumers who eat California-grown food. The petition already has 276,000 signatures.
The coalition said the chemicals used in oil operations can cause cancer, kidney failure, reproductive issues, and liver damage.
“While no comprehensive and independent analysis has been conducted to assess the safety of the wastewater, the studies that have been done indicate the waste commonly contains dangerous levels of toxic chemicals, such as benzene, chromium-6, and toluene,” according to Adam Scow, California Director of Food and Water Watch.”
Chevron, Occidental Petroleum Corporation and other oil companies point out that they have permits to sell the oil wastewater to farmers . They claim that they have it tested by a third-party firm and then supply the results to California regulators.
“We’re in compliance with all the testing requirements,” Abby Auffant, Chevron, spokeswoman told Raw Story. “There’s a petrochemical content in our… permit and we have always met and been under it.” (www.rawstory.com/...)
However, Scow wasn’t impressed with the “testing" conducted under the direction and other oil companies.
”The limited analysis that has been done used outdated methods: regulators don’t screen for all the chemicals used in oil extraction, many of which are carcinogens,” Scow stated. “Even worse, the Central Valley Regional Water Board Task Force has no plans to do independent testing. The board appears to be heavily influenced by the oil industry.”
Last year Scott Smith, Chief Scientist of Water Defense, collected samples from treated wastewater sold by the oil and gas industry to the Cawelo Water District in Kern County. A video released on May 26, 2016 showed Smith, who has tested water across the country, encountering tar balls and oil slicks, conditions he compared to those he witnessed during the Gulf oil spill in 2010.
“I always viewed California as a leader in protecting the environment,” said Smith. “I was absolutely shocked when I found myself surrounded by food crops with the smell of oil coming off the irrigation water. It was worse than what I smelled during the BP Gulf oil spill.”
But Smith said the trouble doesn’t end with the smell. “When the test results came back we found dangerous and toxic chemicals in the irrigation canal system,” said Smith. “The levels of these toxic chemicals exceeded what I have tested in official oil spill disasters.”
Water Defense reported that its tests found industrial solvents, including acetone and methylene chloride, as well as oil. (www.foodandwaterwatch.org/...)
Besides Smith’s testing, only two “limited and flawed” studies have been conducted to date: one by a consultant hired by one of the oil companies selling the water and one by a consultant for a water district near Bakersfield, according to an article by Bill Allayaud, California Director of Governmental Affairs and Tasha Stoiber, Senior Scientist. (www.ewg.org/...)
Scow said this practice of dumping wastewater on crops “is a sympton of the water pollution that the oil industry is perpetuating on California.”
“There is no good solution to the disposal of this wastewater: the oil industry can dump it into injection wells that can cause earthquakes. They can dispose it it in unlined pits that can contaminate aquifers. Or they can dispose of the waste water on crops,” he stated.
“It wasn’t enough to contaminate our water; now Big Oil wants to come after our food,” emphasized Scow. “The oil industry is foisting a huge water pollution crisis on California. The solution to this crisis is to ban fracking and all oil drilling in California.”
Scow said California produces almost half of the fruits, nuts, and vegetables that feed the U.S. — and more than 100 farms in the Central Valley — use oil wastewater for irrigation. The severe drought has only heightened the practice, and state regulators are looking to expand its use further.
The second episode of Spotlight California, a documentary web series hosted by actress and comedian Kiran Deol, revealed in more detail how farmers are using treated oil wastewater to irrigate their crops.
Central Valley farmer Tom Frantz told Deol in the episode, "There are farmers so desperate for water in one particular irrigation district called Cawelo, they're taking some wastewater to irrigate crops from Chevron. It's being used to grow food for people—citrus crops, grapes, pistachios,"
"You grow an orange—it's 90 percent water when it gets to the consumer," Frantz said. "Where did that water come from? It's the irrigation water. The irrigation water is toxic, even at very tiny amounts. Is there a tiny amount of toxicity now in the fruit? Nobody is testing that yet. And they're salting up their soil by using this water, which means ultimately they'll have to stop growing everything." (www.ecowatch.com/...)
One of the crops reported to be irrigated with oil industry wastewater is Halos mandarins, formerly marketed as Cuties, grown by Wonderful Citrus. This is one of the many companies owned by Beverly Hills billionaires Stewart and Lynda Resnick, considered the “Koch Brothers of California” by environmentalists and fishermen. (www.truthorfiction.com/...)
The Resnicks, who also own Fiji Water and POM Wonderful, are the largest and orchard fruit growers in the world and exert enormous political and financial influence over the Brown administration, legislators and state and federal regulatory agencies. Stewart Resnick also serves on the Board of Advisors to the Chancellor of UC Davis, as well as on the Executive Board of the UCLA Medical Sciences and the Advisory Board of the Anderson School of Management. (www.dailykos.com/...)
In addition to Halo mandarins, a Mother Jones article exposed Sunview, Trinchero Family Estates, and Bee Sweet Citrus for using water from Kern County's Cawelo Water District, where oil companies provided half of the water supply in 2014. (www.sustainablebrands.com/...)
The use of oil wastewater for crop irrigation occurs in a state where Big Oil is the biggest and most powerful corporate lobby — and where the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) is the biggest and most powerful lobbying organization. Big Oil, along with corporate agribusiness, developers, big water agencies, timber companies, and other Big Money interests, has captured the regulatory apparatus in California.
The oil industry, including WSPA, Chevron, Phillips 66, AERA Energy, Exxon and Shell, have spent more than $25 million so far in the 2015-16 legislative session. WSPA has spent $12.8 million so far in the session, making them, as usual, the top California lobbying spenders of the session. (www.oaklandmagazine.com/...)
Below are the locations where people will be collecting signatures on the petitions this weekend:
Los Angeles – Ralph's, 11727 Olympic Blvd at 12:00 PM
Trader Joe’s, 2738 Hyperion at 11:00 AM
San Francisco – Whole Foods, 2001 Market Street at 11:30 AM
Oakland – Trader Joe's, 3250 Lakeshore Avenue at 11:30 AM
Oxnard – Whole Foods, 650 Town Center Drive at 12:00 PM
Chico – Chico Library, 1108 Sherman Avenue at 9:00 AM
Fresno – Whole Foods Market, 650 W Shaw Ave at 9:00 AM
Sacramento – Farmers Markets, Sacramento County at 8:00AM
Santa Barbara - Whole Foods, 3761 State Street at 11:00 AM
A growing number of Californians are raising concerns about the use of wastewater for crop irrigation and organized Protect California Food, an affiliate of Californians Against Fracking, which is calling on Governor Brown and state water regulators to immediately ban the practice.
Californians Against Fracking is a coalition of about 200 environmental business, health, agriculture, labor, political, and environmental justice organizations working to win a statewide ban on fracking and other dangerous extraction techniques in California. Follow @CAagainstFrack on Twitter.
Visit www.protectcafood.org and www.californiansagainstfracking.org for more information.