California Lawmakers Offer Plans to Halt Fracking

California Lawmakers Offer Plans to Halt Fracking by Alison Vekshin, March 22, 2013, Bloomberg
Three measures, offered in the state Assembly this week, are the first to arrive this year that would halt fracking and follow regulations proposed in December by the state Conservation Department. … “It shocks me that we pride ourselves on being a national leader on environmental protection, yet we have allowed this activity to occur largely unregulated,” Assemblyman Richard Bloom, a Santa Monica Democrat, said in a statement. His bill would halt fracking until oversight rules are put in place. … California — the fourth-largest oil-producing state — is working on industry-backed standards to allow it. New York and New Jersey have banned fracking until rules are set to protect public health, according to a state Senate report last month. Los Angeles-area Assembly members Adrin Nazarian, of East San Fernando Valley, and Holly Mitchell of Culver City, offered legislation that would ban fracking and require state regulators to determine by Jan. 1, 2019, whether and under what conditions fracking can be permitted. [Emphasis added]