THIS IS NOT THE KIND OF LEADERSHIP WE EXPECT FROM GOVERNOR BROWN . CFROG WOULD LIKELY DROP SUPPORT OF SB 4 IF THESE CHANGES ARE MADE (Ventura County Star Free Press) The Brown administration, formally weighing in for the first time on legislative efforts to regulate hydraulic fracturing in California, has submitted to lawmakers a draft bill that deletes a proposal to require oil companies to obtain permits for fracking operations and excludes other well-stimulation techniques from fracking regulations. The draft bill, submitted by the Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources to the office of Sen. Fran Pavley, substantially amends Pavley’s fracking-regulation bill, which is the only remaining legislation on the subject that lawmakers are expected to act upon this year. “There are some definite problems with it,” Pavley said of the administration’s proposal. “I’m not amenable to compromising to the extent that it will increase the potential to degrade the quality of our groundwater and air.” Administration officials cautioned against reading too much into the proposed bill language. “This is a working draft of legislation that only reflects an ongoing discussion of different aspects of hydraulic fracturing regulation,” said Richard Stapler, spokesman for the California Natural Resources Agency. The proposal to substantially weaken Pavley’s bill comes at a time when proponents of a ban on fracking are stepping up efforts to try to persuade the senator to withdraw her bill because they believe it doesn’t go nearly far enough. Members of the liberal groups MoveOn.org and CREDO have scheduled a rally for Monday outside Pavley’s district office in Calabasas, where they intend to deliver petitions containing 12,000 signatures asking her to shelve the bill. “The only solution to the fracking threat is a complete ban,” said Los Angeles activist Lauren Steiner, who is scheduled to lead the rally. “Sen. Pavley needs to live up to her reputation as the best friend environmentalists have in California by withdrawing her bill and leading the movement to ban fracking in California.” Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, said Friday she is continuing her efforts to craft legislation that will protect public health and safety and also gain the signature of Gov. Jerry Brown. The governor publicly has said he opposes a ban or moratorium. The amended bill was submitted after a mid-July meeting with Pavley’s staff that included representatives from the Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources, the state Department of Conservation, the California Environmental Protection Agency and the Natural Resources Agency Pavley said, however, she does not believe it fully represents the thinking of Brown and his personal staff. She said she has had multiple meetings with Brown’s staff in recent weeks and that she hasn’t received “any ultimatums” about what the governor would consider unacceptable, short of a ban. In an email, Brown spokesman Evan Westrup advised that the draft bill should be seen as part of ongoing negotiations. “The administration has been working with the Legislature to develop legislation that comprehensively addresses all potential impacts from fracking, including water quality, air quality, seismic and other potential risks,” he wrote. Westrup also noted that the Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources is in the process of developing a detailed regulatory scheme that would represent the state’s first-ever administrative regulations to address fracking. Environmental groups have criticized the agency’s “discussion draft” of proposed regulations as far too lax. Perhaps the most significant changes to Pavley’s bill proposed by administration regulators is the deletion of all references to well-stimulation techniques other than hydraulic fracturing. Pavley notes that as oil companies search for ways to extract oil from California’s Monterey Shale formation, they are discovering that fracking, which has worked effectively in geologic formations elsewhere in the country, may not be effective here. Instead, they are turning to other techniques such as “acidizing” as a means to create cracks in the shale to stimulate the flow of oil and natural gas. That practice involves the use of hydrofluoric acid. A nonprofit group called The Next Generation last week released a report titled “Distracted by Fracking,” in which it says acidizing could create as many or more potential environmental problems as hydraulic fracturing. The report said there appears to be no publicly available research about the use of hydrofluoric acid to enhance oil recovery and calls the acid one of most hazardous chemicals in industrial use. “Whether California regulates acidizing may have national and global implications,” it says. The administration’s proposed bill says that because all well-stimulation techniques are unique, a bill addressing fracking should be limited to that. “They said if you want hydraulic fracking regulation, that’s what you’re going to get,” Pavley said. She asserts, however, that this year’s legislation should be broad enough to encompass all manners of oil-drilling techniques that involve injecting chemicals into the ground. “We cannot as legislators be chasing the technology of the moment,” Pavley said. “We have to have the ability to regulate new technologies that can be a problem for air and water quality.” The regulators’ proposal also deletes a provision in the bill that would require oil companies to obtain a permit before conducting a fracking operation on a new or existing well. Instead, their proposal says that oil companies “shall provide notice to the supervisor or district director” before starting such an operation. That would trigger some requirements, including notification of neighboring property owners, disclosure of chemicals to be used and baseline testing of groundwater quality, but it would circumvent a permit process that would involve public input. “The permit is a big issue,” Pavley said. The bill is next scheduled to be heard by the Assembly Appropriations Committee. (August 24th) Assembly Speaker John Pérez said last week he is confident lawmakers will approve an amended version of the bill that provides for what he called “common-sense regulation” of fracking before adjourning Sept. 13.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Aug 2013 05:01:49 +0000
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