New Letter to California Lawmakers Shows Broad Support for Fracking Moratorium

A coalition of more than 100 environmental, progressive and community groups joined together today to urge members of the California Legislature to support a bill that would impose a moratorium on fracking across the state. The letter comes just one day after the news broke that the U.S. Energy Information Administration's estimate of recoverable oil in the Monterey Shale was reduced by 96 percent -- undercutting the misguided rationale for allowing fracking to take place prior to the completion of SB 1132's mandated study.

Led by the national progressive group CREDO, the coalition asked lawmakers to do everything in their power to pass SB 1132, authored by Sens. Holly J. Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) and Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), which would expand studies of fracking and well stimulation and impose a moratorium until research determines whether the practice can be conducted without harming the health and safety of Californians.

Click here to view a copy of the letter.

"This bill presents lawmakers with a clear-cut choice that will show whether they are on the side of oil industry lobbyists or Californians concerned about public health and safety," said CREDO's campaign manager, Zack Malitz. "It's clear from the broad support across California that residents know a moratorium is the right path to protect our communities from the well-documented dangers of tracking."

The letter reminds lawmakers that the "extreme extraction techniques of fracking, acidizing, and other well stimulation methods, and their associated activities, which are taking place both onshore and offshore, have been linked to groundwater and surface water contamination, air pollution, increased greenhouse gas emissions, loss of farmland and open space and earthquakes around the country."

The release of the letter comes on the heels of a rally earlier this week where activists urged State Senator Kevin de Leon, who chairs the powerful Appropriations Committee, to support the bill. The Appropriations Committee plans to decide later this week whether the bill will move through the committee to a vote by the full Senate.

To date, CREDO activists have submitted more than 21,000 letters and reported making nearly 1,000 phone calls to the California State Senate in support of bill. See CREDO's action page for members submitting letters of support for SB 1132: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/sb1132_comments