Citing a lack of data on hydraulic fracturing specific to their state, a team of University of California-Berkeley researchers this week released a report calling for better tracking of frack jobs and handling of fracking wastewater.
In a report released Thursday, researchers with the university's Center for Law, Energy & the Environment called for more baseline testing of groundwater prior to fracking, the development of a formal process to allow concerned citizens to respond to planned fracking events, and requiring more extensive recordkeeping and reporting on the disposal of fracking wastewater.
"When we decided to do the study, we reviewed other studies that had been done across the country and in California and we wanted to do a California-specific study concentrating on the wastewater that's produced in hydraulic fracturing," Jayni Foley Hein, one of the study's co-authors, said in an interview Friday.
Hein said the researchers undertook the study to coincide with a pre-rulemaking process that the California Department of Conservation's Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources is conducting to craft a new suite of fracking regulations for the Golden State.
"We really wanted to get out ahead of that and provide some information that could frame that discussion," she said.
The report looked at earlier peer-reviewed studies on the risks of fracking to the environment and human health and found the record to be lacking, especially given California's unique geology and history of oil and gas development, Hein said.
"Our number one finding is [that] there's a need for additional research and peer-reviewed studies. There still is a great deal of scientific uncertainty as to what are the specific impacts to water supply," she added.
"In the face of such uncertainty, we believe the agencies and operators need to be more transparent and need to take additional action to be accountable in case anything goes wrong," she said.
California has been slower than other oil- and gas-producing states, such as Wyoming, Colorado and Texas, in adopting regulations for fracking, and Hein said the report recommends that California adopt some of the best regulatory practices found in those states.
Among the report's recommendations are requiring advance notice of all fracking events and the listing of chemicals to be used in fracking fluids.
"Both of those things are in place in other states such as in Wyoming and Colorado. We don't see them as extreme. In fact we think the industry might be quite willing to cooperate with them as it has in other states," she said.
