Category Archives: Injection wells

Fracking, Injection wells, Water contamination

Your public comment on injection wells

Repost from California League of Conservation Voters 

BIG POLLUTERS ARE ILLEGALLY DUMPING WASTE INTO THE WATER SUPPLY: SHUT THEM DOWN!

Stop illegally polluting injection wells!Californians are outraged. In this time of severe and prolonged drought — while we’re struggling to conserve water and worried for the future of our communities — our own state government has been permitting oil and gas companies to inject vast quantities of hazardous waste fluid into our aquifers.

Amazingly, despite the danger to our water, state regulators are allowing illegal injection wells to remain open for months, some until October 2015, others until December 2016, in violation of the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act. We are in the midst of an extreme drought. Allowing oil companies to pump toxic chemicals into our groundwater is unacceptable.

The comment period closes on April 14th. Make an official comment to urge the immediate shutdown of illegal injection wells now.

 [Read below … or better yet, click here to SEND this comment.]

Your Public Comment:

Re: Emergency regulation under OAL review: Aquifer exemption compliance schedule

Dear Department of Conservation and Office of Administrative Law,

Please change the draft emergency regulations on aquifer exemptions to immediately order the shutdown of the roughly 2,000 oil and gas injection wells that may currently be impacting underground sources of drinking water. The Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) has determined that these wells are injecting into aquifers that should be protected under the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), yet that very same agency is allowing these activities to continue. Allowing the continued injection of potentially toxic fluids into non-exempt aquifers violates the SDWA and is a threat to California’s dwindling water supply.

Our state is facing one of the worst droughts on record, which warrants emergency action. However, the timeline for stopping pollution outlined in these regulations does not provide the protections we need. Please amend these emergency regulations and issue enforcement orders to shut down all illegal injection wells.