According to a recent press release from Los Padres Forest Watch (LPFW) reports that hydraulic fracturing jobs on six wells in the Sespe oil fields - located about 6 miles north of Fillmore and bordering the Sespe Condor Sanctuary. Theses frack jobs are in addition to the ten other wells that have been fracked in that area since June 2012.  

From the press release: “The Sespe Oil Field is now ground zero for fracking in our region,” said Jeff Kuyper, executive director of Los Padres ForestWatch, a nonprofit watchdog organization that monitors oil drilling in the Los Padres National Forest. “Unfortunately, this controversial drilling technique continues to be approved in one of the most ecologically sensitive areas of the forest, without any public notice and with few environmental safeguards in place to protect our communities’ water supplies.”



Combined, the six fracking operations in 2013 consumed nearly 4.75 million gallons of water, according to documents submitted to the California Department of Oil Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) and the FracFocus website. The fracking operations reportedly injected the following chemicals into underground formations:

• ammonium salt
• sodium hydroxide
• ammonium chloride
• ethylene glycol
• monoethanolamine borate
• acetic acid
• acetic anhydride
• methanol
• sulfonate
• 2,2 Dibromo-3-nitriloproplonamide
• 2-Monobromo-3-nitriloproplonamide
• sodium persulfate
• hemicellulase enzyme
• glutaraldehyde
• guar gum
• organic phosphonate
• ammonium chloride
• amine salts
• polyquaternary amine salt
• bentonite, benzyl (hydrogenated tallow alkyl) dimethylammonium stearate complex
• bis-quaternary methacrylamide monomer
• sodium chloride
• quaternary amine
• surfactant mixture
• silica gel
• sodium sulfate

Many of these chemicals were listed as “confidential business information” and no additional information was provided on their chemical makeup.

The fracking operations concluded just as the federal Bureau of Land Management closed its official comment period on a proposal to regulate fracking on federal lands nationwide. The BLM received more than one million comments from the public, asking the agency to strengthen its draft regulations. Los Padres ForestWatch joined a letter signed by 36 local and national environmental organizations calling for stricter oversight, full disclosure of all chemicals, advance public notice, and thorough environmental review for any future fracking operations.

The fracking operations also coincided with the enactment of California’s first-ever law regulating the practice. On September 20, 2013, Governor Jerry Brown signed SB4, which requires the state Department of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Regulation (DOGGR) to issue regulations governing hydraulic fracturing statewide, and to conduct a study of the possible environmental impacts of fracking. The regulations and study must be finalized by 2015, and only apply to drilling and fracking operations on state land, not national forests and other federal land.

“These state regulations are a good first step towards safeguarding our water supplies and ensuring that we fully understand the consequences of fracking,” said Kuyper. “However, we still have a long way to go – until DOGGR issues these regulations and completes the study, fracking could continue in the Los Padres National Forest without any public notice or environmental analysis.”

Additionally, even with these state regulations in place, nearly half of the wells in the Sespe Oil Field will be exempt – the statewide regulations don’t apply to wells drilled on federal lands. Nearly half of the wells in the Sespe Oil Field are on federal forest land.

The recently-fracked wells are all owned by Seneca Resources, an oil company based in Houston, Texas that operates most wells in the Sespe Oil Field. The fracking operations were conducted by Halliburton.

ForestWatch will continue to participate in statewide and federal regulatory efforts, and will demand full disclosure of fracking chemicals and adequate safeguards to protect water quality and the environment. “Until these safeguards are fully in place and implemented, fracking should not be approved in the Sespe Oil Field,” said Kuyper.

Story by VCInFocus writer Kimberly Rivers: Local watchdog group Citizens for Responsible Oil and Gas has filed two complaints with Ventura County Planning alleging two complaints against Santa Paula based, Mirada Petroleum. Click HERE for the full story. *Full story only available to those who subscribe to the Ojai Valley News. 

Reports of offshore fracking, acidization, more onshore fracking. Californians are watching as parts  of SB4 will take effect Jan 1 2014, but many are questioning how Gov. Brown can hold two torches - that of one working to reduce the effects of global warming and climate change, and the other one allowing the oil industry to access the dirty heavy crude in the Monterey Shale. 

Here is an interesting take on it: "Climate Leaders Don't Frack" 
http://thehill.com/opinion/op-ed/330255-climate-leaders-dont-frack

This week Citizens for Responsible Oil and Gas (CFROG) met with County Planning Director Kim Prillhart and submitted two complaints alleging that Santa Paula based Mirada Petroleum has violated aspects of its conditional use permit CUP to operate oil and gas wells. The complaint focuses on an oil field in the area above Thomas Aquinas College near the Upper Ojai Valley and above Santa Paula. 

One complaint claims that Mirada has violated a recent amendment to its CUP that required it file a form with the state Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources indicating its intention to idle and abandon several wells. CFROG says that according to the County and DOGGR, Mirada has not yet filed those forms, and the CUP required the forms be filed within 90 days of the permit taking effect. That time period has since expired. 

The second complaint alleges that a few years ago Mirada drilled a well in a section of "pristine" forest without the necessary permits. That well was supposed to be on an existing oil pad, but instead Mirada drilled it in a spot that did not have any wells. 

Last week the Environmental Defense Center issued a new report on the practice of hydraulic fracturing - also known as fracking - in the ocean off the coast of California. The EDC charges that the federal government has for the past 20 years "been asleep at the switch while fracking and other forms of well stimulation have been conducted from platforms in the fragile waters off the south central coast." The report also addresses other well stimulation practices used offshore.

The report comes on the heals of Gov. Brown signing SB 4, the first regulation in California to specifically address various well stimulation practices including fracking and acidization. The EDC notes however, that SB 4 applies to onshore land and offshore waters within the State of California's jurisdiction, the new law does not apply to federal waters - which is the focus of the new report.

Click the image above to view the report. 

Portions of the report appear below: 

"Although fracking has been conducted off of California’s shores for at least two decades, the practice was until recently largely unknown to state and federal regulators, as well as the general public."

"EDC’s review and analysis of federal records received through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) show that at least 15 fracs have occurred offshore California, with several more proposals pending. More fracs have almost certainly been conducted, however, as federal regulators were until recently unaware that the practice was being used. The information currently available shows that the majority of fracs have occurred from platforms with a history of spills that are in close proximity to the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary and other ecologically important areas."

This industry is an integral part of our nation. Where would the U.S. be without the oil industry? 

Here is part I and II of a cartoon and the accompanying description from the YouTube post:
In this corporate-sponsored cartoon, Martian dissidents learn that oil and competition are the two things that make America great.
Producer: Sutherland (John) Productions
Sponsor: American Petroleum Institute
Keywords: Economics; Oil industry; Advertising: Animation

And to see the remaining few minutes of the cartoon, here is a link (note: there is some overlap but you can see the effects of competition combined with oil). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sewx0LPS3yI

To read more about this technology on the Brightsource website Click Here.

Edited 9:24 am: Response from Pavley's office "It (KCET article) is not correct and KCET is in the process of correcting it. The statement from Pavley's office: "Under SB 4, CEQA will apply to all fracking. There are no threshold levels for fracking in the bill. The thresholds in the bill apply to the practice of acidizing, not fracking. Acidizing is a separate technique not addressed by the Center for Biological Diversity and the other plaintiffs in the lawsuit lawsuit against DOGGR. This is important because Senator Pavley was able to expand regulations beyond just fracking to address the possibility that acidizing, not fracking, could be the primary method of accessing the Monterey Shale."