Culver City Observer -

Fiscal Committee Passes Mitchell’s Fracking Moratorium

Assemblymember Holly J. Mitchell’s bill to impose a moratorium on the practice of fracking in California, AB 1323, is the only one of three proposed bans passed by the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

Testifying before the committee, Assemblywoman Mitchell vigorously defended the need for the ban, challenging the notion that any loss to the state in future oil revenues could be allowed to outweigh potential costs, in terms of quality of life and home values, imposed on those living in the vicinity of fracturing sites.

“The largest oil field in the state designated for major use of fracking is in a densely-populated, predominantly minority area of my district,” said Assemblywoman Mitchell, who represents Culver City and parts of Los Angeles within half a mile of the Inglewood Oil Field which surrounds Hahn State Park,

“Yet no one has proven that it can be done safely close to so many homes.”

The Assemblywoman had expressed skepticism about the claim that the state might forgo significant revenues from an interruption in the exploitation of fossil fuel fracked from state lands.

“I wish someone would show me where that nine million dollars is and what it’s going toward now,” Mitchell said during a previous hearing.

AB 1323 would halt hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” -- the infusion under high pressure of chemicals, sand and water underground to release oil or natural gas – until state regulations specify conditions for its safe use. Representatives of several environmental organizations testified in support of the bill. The measure, previously approved in the Natural Resources Committee, now goes for a full vote on the floor of the Assembly.