From Big Oil Brown
Fracking is already happening in some parts of California, but if Jerry Brown and Big Oil get their way, it could explode in the state. In many parts of the country, fracking operations are digging up natural gas – which has its own problems – but in California, this dangerous process will largely be used to dig up dirty oil. The Governor is forgetting that his first priority is the well-being of his constituents, not oil industry profits. Jerry needs to pick a side: either he’s the climate champion he says he is, or he’s Big Oil Brown, champion of fracking and the oil companies.
There’s no question that we need to leave oil in the ground, and using fracking to get it out makes that no brainer even clearer. Fracking is extremely energy intensive, and has also been seen to encourage methane leakage, which can contribute massively to global warming as well.
Fracking uses roughly 4 million gallons of water and 80,000 gallons of proppants and chemicals per fracturing. In a state like California where water is so precious, every gallon counts. And with climate change reducing snowpack in the Sierras and changing weather patterns, water will become even more scarce in the state.
Fracking already takes place within a mile of over 15 million Americans. There are over 1,000 documented cases of water contamination near fracking wells and most of the operations in California would take place in the Central Valley, where a quarter of the nation’s food is produced.