Ventana Chapter - Conservation Issues

Old Baldy, Canada | photo by Cameron Schaus

Conservation Issues of the Ventana Chapter | monterey county

Sierra Club CA Submits Comments to DOGGR on Fracking

August 2014

Big Oil is lobbying California lawmakers and DOGGR to frack Monterey County-say No!

Ventana Chapter leaders have been meeting with Monterey County Supervisors and submitting comments to County staff regarding our concerns for proposed fracking, acidization and other well stimulation techniques in Monterey County. We oppose these methods of oil and gas extraction and have requested a moratorium until more is known about the long term effects, especially the impacts to air quality, water supplies and seismic activity.

On June 13, the California Department of Conservation sent out public notice that revisions to the text of the proposed regulations and documents added to the rule making record as a result of SB 4 were available for review and comment by the Department of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR). This phase of the public comment period ran until July 28. It is expected to take between two to three more years for all the hearings, review, EIR and other steps before regulations could be put in place.

Because DOGGR never regulated fracking, water quality impacts and human health impacts now go unmeasured in California, but fracking in other states shows that fracking is a human health hazard for both oil and gas field workers and people living near oil and gas fields. Attached is the letter submitted by Sierra Club California on behalf of our nearly 380,000 members and supporters. Please read it and consider sending your own letters to elected officials and the press.
(See Sierra Club CA letter to DOGGR here).

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