California: The New Frack Frontier

Apparently, oil and gas industry officials feel optimistic that regulatory agencies won’t present an obstacle to plans to develop their oil and gas leases in California. Tim Marquez, founder,Chairman and Chief Executive of Venoco, said in 2011, "[w]e are shoringup our development plans for the Sevier discovery and have been in contact with the agencies to ensure we have a clear path forward to develop this discovery. We currently expect to drill 30 to 40 wells there next year.”

Fracking Threatens California's Water Supply

Fracking poses a serious threat to California’s water supply and quality. It is an extremely water intensive practice, using up to 5 million gallons to frack a single well. That’s enough water to supply water to 100 households for a whole year.  Based on a conservative estimate that 600 wells are fracked every year (as was the case in 2011) at 3 million gallons per well, the fracking industry will use 1.8 billion gallons of water annually.

Fracking, Chemicals and Water
Fracking utilizes a mixture of chemicals, many of which are toxic or are known to cause human health problems. A 2011 study by the US Congress identified over 750 different chemicals used in the fracking process, including 29 different chemicals that are either:

• known or possible human carcinogens;
• regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act for their risk to human health;
• listed as hazardous air pollutants under the Clean Air Act.

Millions of gallons of these dangerous chemicals, such as naphthalene, BTEX compounds (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene), methanol, and lead are injected into the earth every year. In addition, fracking wastewater contains harmful components such as high salt content, naturally occurring radioactive material, and heavy metals such as arsenic.
Fracking has an especially high impact on water resources because most contaminated wastewater from fracking is removed from the water cycle.  However, companies like Venoco and Occidental have plans to significantly ramp up fracking in California to make the California the largest source of on-shore oil production in the country in the next 10 years. With 35 million people and the largest agricultural industry in the U.S., there is simply not enough water to accommodate such high levels of water usage for oil and gas drilling in California.


The Central Valley, where the majority of fracking is taking place, is already under major pressure from contaminated drinking water sources. Nitrate contamination, for example, from agriculture is a major threat to many communities’ drinking water sources. According to a recent UC Davis report, over 2 million Californians may not have access to a reliable source of safe drinking water, as groundwater contamination is a major problemthroughout the state.  Any increase in groundwater contamination is unacceptable and will only put more pressure on California’s shrinking water resources.

Fracking: Increasing seismic risks?

Wastewater from fracking operations in California is often disposed of into underground injection wells deep beneath the surface of the earth. These wells, know as Class II injection wells, are regulated under the US EPA Underground Injection Control (UIC) Program. They are often in close proximity to or pass through underground sources of water used for drinking and agriculture. While industry claims that underground injection of fracking wastewater is safe, the EPA has criticized California’s implementation of the UIC program and monitoring of Class II wells. In particular, the report criticizes the Division of Oil and Gas Resources (DOGGR) one size fits all risk assessment for protection of waterways.

In a seismically active region such as California, there is increased risk of well-casing failure and the possibility of wastewater transport through faults into aquifers.  In addition, there is a growing body of evidence to suggest that fluids injected deep into the earth can migrate over time, potentially entering underground sources of drinking water DOGGR recently disclosed, in public workshops held in June and July 2012, that the UIC program has had a 4-10% well casing failure rate.

Since DOGGR does not require disclosure of wastewater disposal, the public does not know the fate of most fracking wastewater in California. Besides underground injection, drilling companies sometimes dispose of wastewater into open-air pits, where the dangerous chemicals can off-gas, creating air quality problems, or discharge into waterways, threatening drinking water sources and habitats. Under the Clean Water Act, any discharged water into waterways must be treated, however most water treatment plants are not equipped to handle the types and volume of wastewater from fracking. Without disclosure from frackers of wastewater disposal, the state does not know the extent to which these different methods are employed, and if it has lead to any problems, as detected in other states.

Fracking Threatens California’s Air Quality and Exacerbates Climate Change.

California’s  Central Valley, home to 4 million Californians, has the highest level of particulate matter and ozone pollution in the United States and the asthma rate is three times the national average, according to the American Lung Association.  Deep shale drilling is known to release significant levels of methane gases and volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) that cause smog and lead to respiratory problems, and cancer causing air toxics such as benzene and arsenic. 

The oil and gas industry is the single largest producer of methane gas in the U.S., accountable for approximately 40% of all methane emissions. Methane is a greenhouse gas, 20 times more potent than CO2. In addition to the emissions from drilling, large numbers of trucks are used to transport chemicals to each drill site and wastewater away from each drill site, causing significant increases in particulate and smog-forming pollutants. The air pollution and health problems that result from fracking is a cost that Central Valley residents cannot afford to pay.

The Lack of Oversight in California

Despite the grave dangers associated with fracking, there is very little regulation of fracking and other oil and gas extraction methods in California. In fact, California lags behind almost every other state where fracking occurs in protecting local communities. As one of the largest oil and gas producing states, with approximately 60,000 oil and gas wells, California’s lack of regulation puts local communities at serious risk. In California,

• The Division of Oil and Gas Resources (DOGGR) does not require a permit to frack a well, only an initial permit to drill or to rework the well. Drillers are not required to disclose that fracking will take place;
• DOGGR does not know the location of fracked wells;
• DOGGR does not record well casing failures that can lead to spills and contamination of local groundwater supplies;
• DOGGR does not require drillers to disclose where contaminated wastewater from drilling operations is being disposed and does not adequately regulate underground injection of fracking wastewater despite having a legal mandate to do so.
• DOGGR does not require frackers to disclose the identity and volume of chemicals--which are often toxic and known health hazards, and volume or source of water used in the fracking process.

As recently as 2011, DOGGR claimed that no fracking was happening in CA in a letter to State Senator Pavley.  At a series of public workshops held in June 2012, however, DOGGR now states that approximately 700 wells per year are fracked in California and DOGGR reports that underground injection well failures range from 4-10%.

As a result of DOGGR’s failure to regulate adequately the oil and gas industry, neither the state nor the public knows where fracking is taking place, how much water is used, and what chemicals are used, and the agency does not ensure that the disposal of toxic fracking wastewater is safe. California must implement measures to protect its communities from harm from fracking and other drilling operations. Until there is adequate regulation in place, the state must put fracking operations on hold.

Governor Brown Supporting Big Oil