I would hate to think that I am saving this water for a rainy day and it ends up going to someone who didn’t save a drop. I am thinking new construction and worst yet our precious saved water is going to a non essential, secondary, industrial production like oil drilling that is asking for a 3 fold increase in its water usage. And that leads to the bigger question what about the county and all the water in the unincorporated areas? I’ll get to that in a moment.
Local ban nullified by state; fracking resumes in Denton
“As for the grass-roots fight in Denton against fracking, Frack Free Denton President Adam Briggle said that will continue.
We cannot say how this story will unfold, but we do know this dark chapter shall not be the last one written,” he said.”
Believe it or not this ruling is very helpful in the construct of our next move here in SLO county. But I am truly sorry to hear about Denton. We might send them some words of encouragement and support. We are all in this together so here’s a Frack Free Denton link to let them know we care and are pulling for them.
Think our next move is a countywide moratorium on non essential water use for oil extraction. Non essential water use is defined as: water uses that are not essential nor required for the protection of public, health, safety, and welfare. Under this definition, irrigation of landscape areas, including parks, athletic fields, and golf courses, washing cars, washing down sidewalks, filling swimming pools, fountains are non essential use and restricted or moratoriums issued.
Some of these protocols have already been implemented in cities and counties across the State. But there is one very blaring, critical omission on this list of non essential water use. Water used to extract oil.
Since there is no mention of water used to extract oil and in particular oil extraction that is exempt from the Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water Acts, we need to add that to the list of non essential water use and implement a moratorium on it.
Currently Freeport at the Arroyo Grande Oil Fields is extracting 384,600,000 gallons of fresh water that is used to extract a hazardous and toxic product, oil and the water used is then reclassified as a hazardous waste because it came in contact with benzene, radioactive isotopes, hydrogen sulfide, etc and poses a real threat to the safety, health and well being of all water. The threat is, this hazardous waste is re injected back into the ground where it can infect the essential ground water. And once the water is infected life gets very very difficult and not fun real fast.
EMERGENCY MORATORIUM on non-essential stored water use for oil extraction