SB4 Primer from KCET - "5 Things California's fracking bill will do" -,Chris Clarke

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."

The Center for Biological Diversity, Earthworks, Environmental Working Group, and Sierra Club recently sued DOGGR for allegedly failing to conduct proper environmental review of fracking projects under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which requires a thorough environmental assessment process of projects that might damage the environment and public health. Under SB 4, DOGGR would be able to set "threshold levels" of chemical use in fracking projects that would trigger CEQA review. If projects don't meet that threshold, projects can proceed without CEQA scrutiny.

DOGGR would be required to examine and consider revising those threshold levels before 2020. In the meantime, though, critics charge that having the division establish its own thresholds for triggering CEQA review essentially legitimizes what had been an arguably unlawful practice. The same agency that had been charged with lax oversight of fracking now gets to determine what constitutes lax oversight.

Click here to read the full article on KCET.org