Two Years Frack-Free in the Sespe!

Members of “Save the Sespe,” a network of 2,500 environmental advocates throughout California, are celebrating the two-year anniversary of a successful petition drive to block a controversial fracking proposal in the Los Padres National Forest. The group’s efforts helped bring an end to 20 years of unchecked, unregulated fracking in the Sespe wilderness area.

Save the Sespe was started in May 2014 by Ojai native, Leif Dautch, after the U.S. Forest Service announced that Texas-based Seneca Resources Corporation was seeking a permit to frack 8 new oil and gas wells and build 5,000 feet of new pipeline in the Sespe.

Over 2,000 concerned citizens signed the group’s petition opposing the project in the first week, concerned about air and water contamination, threats to wildlife, greenhouse gas emissions, increased seismic activity, and water depletion. Supporters included a local member of the Chumash Indian tribe who explained the tribal significance of the Sespe, one of the last known habitats for grizzly bears in California. Another signature came from a Sacramento man whose wife grew up hiking in the Sespe and who wanted them to experience the trails and streams together before the area’s natural beauty was compromised.

Then, in January 2015, a report from California’s Department of Oil, Gas & Geothermal Resources concluded that fracking in the Sespe posed “significant and unavoidable” environmental impacts to air quality, biological resources, climate change, recreation, and worker safety. The same month, the Forest Service placed the fracking proposal “on hold,” a status that remains unchanged 16 months later.

In the meantime, Dautch, an elected delegate to the California Democratic Party representing Santa Barbara and Ventura, introduced and passed a resolution through the state party calling for a halt to ongoing fracking projects on public land in California. The resolution was co-sponsored by 38 other state party officials, including the chairs of the Environmental and Progressive Caucuses. (http://www.cadem.org/resources/resolutions?id=0798)

Since then, the Save the Sespe team has worked with Senator Barbara Boxer’s office and Congresswoman Lois Capps’ staff to pass federal legislation protecting the Sespe and the Los Padres from continued drilling. “It’s important to show everyone who supported the Save the Sespe movement that we are committed to seeing this fight through to the end,” Dautch said. “Regardless of your general views on oil and gas activity, I think we can all agree that certain places, like forests, parks, and schools, should just be off-limits.”