Fran Pavley

The California Council on Science and Technology study required by Senate Bill 4 concludes that fracking as well as all oil and gas drilling and waste-disposal activities should be done transparently.

This report validates my reasons for authoring California’s first “fracking” regulation law, SB 4, in 2013.

Government agencies, the public in general and residents living near well sites need to know in detail about the presence of dangerous chemicals mixed in water used in fracking and then pumped to the surface as byproducts.

The scientists are emphatic that state regulators must protect underground sources of drinkable water from being contaminated by fracking in shallow wells and other potentially unsafe practices.

To that end, I will amend my current bill, SB 248, to include some of the most crucial recommendations contained in the findings of the eminent scientists.

I will make a particular effort to pass legislation that phases out the use of about 900, so-called percolation ponds that threaten to taint groundwater basins. These ponds, which dispose of waste associated with fracking, other forms of enhanced oil recovery, and, indeed, all drilling, pose a risk to the health of health of animals and humans.

SB 248 has passed the state Senate and is awaiting a hearing next Monday in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee.

As chairwoman of the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee, I will closely monitor state regulatory agencies in adopting the scientists’ recommendations.

I expect the leaders of the state Department of Conservation and its Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources and the State Water Resources Control Board to start this important task immediately.

Fran Pavley represents California’s 27th Senate District, which includes western portions of the Santa Clarita Valley.