On Wednesday, the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources rejected one of the remaining two bills this session that would have regulated hydraulic fracturing activities. The rejected bill, AB 7, was amended on the floor at the end of May and sent back to the Natural Resources Committee. As amended, AB 7 would have required approval of proposed fracking activities, notice to property owners, regional water quality control board approval of the proposed wastewater disposal, and disclosures relating to fracking fluids.
This leaves SB 4 as the only bill regulating fracking that is still in play for this legislative session. SB 4 passed on the Senate floor before the end of May deadline for making it out of the house of origin and moved on to the Assembly. As discussed in more detail in the blog post on May 31, 2013, like AB 7, SB 4 would require a fracking-specific permit, notice to property owners, and disclosures relating to fracking fluids. Also noted in that post, the author of SB 4 indicated that the bill would be amended to remove the moratorium on fracking activities in California.
Co-authored by Michael N. Mills and Robin B. Seifried.