Alameda County Residents to Urge Planning Commission to Support Fracking Ban Ordinance

The measure would modify Alameda County zoning rules to prohibit high-intensity oil and gas operations, including fracking and acid fracturing, in unincorporated areas of the county. The ordinance also seeks to protect water supplies by prohibiting the disposal or storage of oil waste fluid in pits or sumps.

A major leak discovered last year at a Livermore oil field highlighted the risks of oil production in Alameda County. The Alameda County Environmental Health Department investigated the Livermore spill and cited the oil company for eight violations, including improperly disposing of hazardous waste and failing to immediately notify authorities about the release of hazardous material.

Fracking blasts huge volumes of water mixed with toxic chemicals into the ground to break up rock formations. The technique has been linked to air and water pollution across the country. Disposal of wastewater from fracking and other oil operations is also triggering earthquakes: A recent U.S. Geological Survey report found that more than 7 million Americans live in areas at risk of oil industry-induced quakes.


What: Planning commission meeting featuring Alameda County residents testifying in favor of ordinance that would ban fracking and other extreme oil and gas extraction techniques.

When: Monday, April 4, at 6 p.m. The fracking ordinance is the first item on the commission’s agenda.

Who: Alameda County residents and members of Alameda County Against Fracking, Food & Water Watch and the Center for Biological Diversity.

Where: Public Hearing Room in Alameda County Buildings (room 160), 224 West Winton Avenue, (about two blocks east of I-880), Hayward. (The meeting room is in the left wing as you face the U-shaped building from the parking lot.)


The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 990,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

Food & Water Watch works to ensure the food and water we consume is safe, accessible and sustainable. So we can all enjoy and trust in what we eat and drink, we help people take charge of where their food comes from, keep clean, affordable, public tap water flowing freely to our homes, protect the environmental quality of oceans, force government to do its job protecting citizens, and educate about the importance of keeping shared resources under public control. http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2016/alameda-fracking-04-04-2016.html

Center for Biological Diversity
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/