Fracking Pollutes California Water While Individuals Suffer: Billions of Gallons Contaminated
132 2015-04-07 by axolotl_peyotl
As California lawmakers decide if resident ‘water wasters’ should face jail time as a drought strikes the state, water agencies are busy working on higher rates and fees to penalize individual residents.
This is happening while the act of hydraulic fracturing is polluting massive amounts of water in the state.
As the main facilitator in the pollution of California’s two biggest fresh water aquifers, the real question is: “who will report California Governor Jerry Brown?”
Directly, because of Governor Brown, fracking wastewater has been allowed to pollute key aquifers that contain high-quality water protected under the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act.
This is a federal act that appears to be vestigial showing little repercussions to some of Governor Brown’s biggest campaign donors; big oil and natural gas interests.
During Governor Brown’s recent announcement of an executive order to curb the drought, he lectured Californians to change their water habits, putting him at the top of elite level hypocrites.
After receiving $2.49 million in direct contributions from big oil and natural gas interests, Governor Brown signed into law Senate Bill 4 (SB4) despite widespread opposition from the public; the same public he now lectures to.
SB4, signed in September 2013, required California state regulators to approve all fracking permit requests.
Three months later, Governor Brown sat idly by as the The California Regional Water Quality Control Board renewed a five year resolution approving ‘waivers of reports of waste discharge and waste discharge requirements’ across the entire fracking, oil, and natural gas industries.
Less than one year later in 2014, tests revealed over three billion gallons of fracking wastewater had contaminated the California aquifers, making them unfit for human and agricultural exposure; in other words, ‘wasted water.’
Most of Northern California’s fracking involves deeper, horizontal shale wells which the EPA estimated in 2010 can use anywhere from 2 to 10 million gallons of water to fracture a single well.
Also of notable mention, the Arrowhead Brand Mountain Spring Water Company, under the umbrella of Nestlé, currently draws from 11 natural springs across California.
It is reported that Nestlé pays only 65 cents for each 470 gallons it pumps out of the ground – the same rate as an average residential water user.
Perhaps the most sobering admission has been that of Nestlé’s chairman and former CEO Peter Brabeck-Letmathe when he stated “Access to water is not a public right.”
For politicians wanting greater control and reach into individual’s lives, real answers to real environmental concerns hold little weight in their world.
Since Governor Jerry Brown believes his solutions are important, he should lead by example and allow his water bills and usage to be posted daily for the public to scrutinize.
13 comments
9 meat_for_the_beast 2015-04-07
Only until the the taps in California start to run dry will people start to wake up to this water issue... Amazing how the state is running out of water and the waste & contamination continues on like nothing is wrong.
This seems to be the case for just about any major problem. Until it affects the average person's daily life in their local environment... nothing seems to happen.
2 no1113 2015-04-07
And by then it'll be too late.
6 meat_for_the_beast 2015-04-07
Exactly! Every time the public ends up reacting to something... it is always far too late... The shit has hit the fan and then they react as though there was not single word said about the issue.
The mainstream media, the government, and involved corporations have never properly and proactively informed the public on things like this... The usual reason is there is never any money to be made in fixing problems or informing the public of the truth of the matter.
They would rather keep making money to the very last second... and then when disaster hits... react with the same shock as though they had no idea... then offer temporary solutions that will make them more money along the way.
2 no1113 2015-04-07
I have a feeling this is a very purposeful thing.
And because it keeps the public dependent upon Big Brother to help them. It keeps them (us) weak when, if we educated and helped ourselves, we wouldn't need any Big Brother bullshit manipulating everything and everyone.
All very correct...very sad and manipulative...
1 haltingstate 2015-04-07
The water "shortage" is manufactured. They drained the northern reserves into the south, lied/misclassified water resources and privatized reservoir capacity. Passed environmental act to redirect water away from human use. They sold off the water supplies to private companies recently.
They are lobbying for a "water conservation bill" that prevents farmers from pumping water from the ground table, to force them to buy it from the privatized water company. This is just a shakedown and manufactured. Just like the rolling blackouts and energy crisis caused by Enron in the 90s.
The next thing is another power crisis.
4 SistaSabuda 2015-04-07
Californian here. Agri uses 80%+/- of what we use as a whole. That leaves 20% between civic, business and private housing. Housing uses 10-11%. If we halve our usage were only talking about 5%. Nothing they're doing will actually help anything. We need to get desalinization plants running that are already built. But then we have half of the leftwing that does not want them built or running, citing 'brine and the occasional sea creatures getting sucked up,' litigating -in addition to protesting- to keep them out and shut. It makes the whole thing impossible as no one wants to spend billions on the projects only to get tied up in court for a decade and go broke. The situation then exacerbated by the other half of the leftwing, which has a "come one come all" attitude, and abhors the idea of getting more control of our illegal immigration problem and it's impact on our finite resources. Limited resources meets unlimited capacity and everyone else is the problem. It never fucking ends.
Edit stuff
2 meat_for_the_beast 2015-04-07
This is something 'the people' need to get behind 100%. We need to look past the cost analysis and business side of it and realize that we all need drinkable water and nothing should stop the pursuit of creating that...
3 SistaSabuda 2015-04-07
The cost side is like half ideological regulation and litigation. If we could get past that we could literally drown everyone in desalinated water. We have the money.
1 BigEyeTenor 2015-04-07
Agreed, we live on what is literally termed "The Water Planet". There's really no shortage of water on earth. Just not fresh water in the places we want it. The Persian Gulf countries desalinate all the water they use, so there's no reason we can't also.
2 Dangst 2015-04-07
Haha kleptocracy at its finest!
Excellent research dude.
1 no1113 2015-04-07
Why laugh about that?
0 Dangst 2015-04-07
Not at all surprised. Peel back the layers in any industry/government, and they're all rotten.
1 no1113 2015-04-07
Yes. Correct. Nothing funny about it though. It's horrible, necrotic, and putrid.
1 gaseouspartdeux 2015-04-07
and suffer drought restrictions