SB 4

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The California State Legislature was busy last week amending and voting on bills relating to hydraulic fracturing, including rejection of a moratorium. The Senate passed SB 4 with Senator Pavley’s announcement that she would remove the fracking moratorium provision to get the bill to the Assembly. With that change, there will be no surviving bills proposing a fracking moratorium this legislative session.
Continue Reading California Legislature Weeds out Fracking Bills and Rejects Moratorium

Yesterday, the Senate Committee on Environmental Quality advanced two bills that would increase regulation of hydraulic fracturing. The first of these bills, SB 4, would (1) impose a permit requirement specific to fracking activities and (2) prohibit fracking beginning January 1, 2015, pending the completion of a study on the impact of fracking (see April 11, 2013, post). The second bill, SB 395, would (1) subject the disposal of fracking-related water to underground injection control (UIC) regulations, from which oil and gas operations are currently exempt, and (2) effectively prohibit the disposal of fracking wastewater containing hazardous waste by injection (see April 8, 2013, post).
Continue Reading Senate Committee Also Advances Fracking Bills

On Monday, Assembly Members amended two bills relating to hydraulic fracturing – one increasing the scope of regulated activities and another allowing trade secret protection of related disclosures. Also this week, Senator Pavley’s amended SB 4 passed the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee.
Continue Reading Amendments to California Bills Both Weaken and Strengthen Proposed Restrictions on Fracking

This month, California State Senator Fran Pavley introduced significant amendments to her bill to regulate hydraulic fracking activities (SB 4), including a ban on fracking until completion of a study on its impacts and a permit requirement specific to fracking activities.
Continue Reading California Lawmaker Demands Another Fracking Study, Threatens Industry with Moratorium

New bills were introduced in the state Assembly (AB 7) and Senate (SB 4) to require disclosure of the chemicals and the amount of water used in hydraulic fracturing operations. This is at least the third attempt at fracking disclosure legislation, the last of which was tabled during the last session (see August 17 post).
Continue Reading Another Attempt at Fracking Disclosure Legislation in California

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