California’s earth, air and water face the threat of ongoing fracking unless the Legislature votes to impose a moratorium that the oil industry is determined to resist. My bill, SB 1132, needs your support! It would place a moratorium on this practice until it is studied and California’s public health and environmental sustainability can and will be protected.
Now, more than ever, we need your help. This is a critical week for SB 1132. A decision will be made Friday by the Senate Appropriations Committee on whether it stays alive and moves forward for a vote on the Senate floor. Last year’s version of the bill was heavily watered down in the Assembly Appropriations Committee before dying on the Assembly Floor.
We’ve heard from tens of thousands calling for California to halt fracking before it inflicts damage on our eco-system and the neighborhoods where people live. Prevention is what a moratorium can bring. Growing concerns over the state’s worsening drought, ensuing wildfires and seismic activity have framed the conversation at the state level and national level. In my district, I hear from families about the smell of poison in the air, the smell of chemicals burning. Adults developing headaches that just won’t go away. Children with bloody noses and trouble breathing. Heavy trucks hauling barrels of chemicals and drilling equipment right by elementary schools, senior centers, and healthcare facilities.
This is the reality for Angeleno families living and working near oil and gas extraction sites. These are the stories they share when seeking explanations and relief. We know that the chemicals used in unconventional well stimulation operations, like fracking and acidization, can have devastating impacts on our health and our environment. We must do more to protect our communities and the environment.
My south Los Angeles district is pockmarked with oil fields stretching from the Cheviot Hills, Beverly Hills and Las Cienegas sites to the Inglewood oil field which surrounds much of Kenneth Hahn State Park, the largest urban oil field in the country. There are a million Angelenos living within a 5-mile radius of the Inglewood oil derricks. Most of the residents and park visitors are families of color.
Just a few miles to the east, growing fears about fracking and acidization have mobilized hundreds of residents in West Adams, a predominantly minority community, to stand up against the oil company and to complain about the odors, noise, street damage, and the health and safety risks associated with the use of toxic chemicals near their homes, schools and care facilities. In the event of an emergency, it would be extremely difficult to evacuate residents from this vulnerable neighborhood.
The story is just as disturbing in University Park. Residents living near a drill site complained of a noxious odor accompanied by chronic dizziness, nausea and respiratory problems. It took three years, repeated protests, and more than 200 official complaints before regulatory agencies stepped in to inspect the site and take air samples. Unsurprisingly, an inspection by the EPA uncovered violations of the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts and regulations intended to prevent the accidental release of hazardous substances.
It is disconcerting that many of these well operations are hidden from view and residents only learn what’s going on when the trucks carrying harmful chemicals and equipment come into the neighborhood. Some of these oil fields were dormant and have only recently been tapped again, using new techniques to maximize oil and gas extraction. An intricate web of pipes moving thousands of gallons of poisonous, corrosive and potentially explosive chemicals expands unseen directly beneath a multitude of homes, schools and community centers near downtown.
It is time to stop exposing neighborhoods to unsuspected toxic risks, calling for safety measures and more disclosures only as an afterthought. We need a moratorium on fracking and acidization now, until their safety has been demonstrated and their use does not impose more burdens on minority and low-income communities than elsewhere. Let’s put the health and needs of people first. This is a call to action – let’s push SB 1132 to the finish line!
State Sen. Holly J. Mitchell and Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) have introduced SB 1132 to ban fracking and acidization statewide until an independent study evaluates their impacts and establishes safety protocols.