“Our position in California is the same as our national position: no new fracking should take place until effective safeguards are established to protect public health and the envi ronment.”
– Damon Nagami, NRDC
To more of the interview with Damon Nagami
Fracking for Monterey Shale requires drilling a horizontal shaft; fracking to obtain additional oil from old vertical oil wells is the practice underway in the Water Replenishment District, which covers a 420-square mile area with more than 400 water wells. Johnson said he has conducted research to better educate himself about fracking methods in his district. He said shallow groundwater con- tamination caused by oil production was not uncommon in the 1940s and 1950s when brine that was brought up with the oil was sometimes discharged to unlined ponds. The district has a network of deep monitoring wells to look at groundwater and what’s be- neath the groundwater but does not specifically target anything related to fracking. Johnson said “there are some anomalies” in the water from some of the deeper monitoring wells with elevated levels of boron, arsenic, salin- ity and some volatile organic com- pounds, but that it is unclear if they are naturally occurring, o related to fracking or other oil drilling operations, or from other sources. The district is looking to improve its understanding about fracking. “We have been in contact with water quality laboratories to see if there are any chemicals associated with frack- ing that we should be looking at in our deep monitoring wells,” he said. In addition to his research, he said WRD officials have met with the oil companies, with the district inform- ing them of the depth to the base of freshwater and the type of ongoing monitoring. “We are trying to edu- cate them more about groundwater,” Johnson said.
See an interactive map of seismic activity, www.usgs.gov
Johnson said “the research shows that there are potential risks from fracking that could create conduits for contaminants to migrate to under- ground sources of drinking water, but that these risks can be reduced with proper care, oversight and monitoring.” He said that fracking could potentially intercept abandoned old oil wells that could also provide a conduit to ground- water.
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“They are doing this fracking gen- erally in areas where there are a lot of other oil wells around, old, abandoned wells, that could be a potential con- duit for the fracking fluids to reach the groundwater,” he said. “That’s why it is important to search for any old wells or other potential conduits in the area of a proposed fracking job and seal them off prior to the work.”
Johnson acknowledged that DOGGR “is certainly the lead” on oil well compliance but that there is a role for Regional Water Quality Control Boards to oversee the groundwater quality aspect. “DOGGR’s job isn’t to regulate groundwater quality; their charge is to regulate the oil, gas, and geothermal industry and to ensure that those wells are built and abandoned correctly to protect the hydrocarbon reservoirs and to prevent impact to the overlying fresh groundwater. But, the Regional Water Boards or other water quality agencies should have a larger role in reviewing petroleum operations where they’re being performed in areas of usable groundwater to help protect that resource,” he said.
Science, Facts and Emotion It seems safe to say future fracking activities will be monitored to a degree not previously seen. It also seems clear that questions will remain about the potential impacts of fracking, and that further legislation or regulation is on the horizon.
“Is fracking safe? It is impossible to answer that question for California today given the lack of available information,” the legislative analysis of AB 972 says. “However, plausible mechanisms exist for significant sub- surface fluid and/or gas migration, including breaches of the integrity of the well-casing or reservoir. There is considerable evidence that suggests the increasing concern about the potential public health and environmental im- pacts of the practice is warranted.” Nagami said fracking may not need to be banned entirely if proven it can be done safely. “Some want to