[Editor’s Note: Culver City activist Rebecca Rona Tuttle relayed this anti-fracking bills update by Bay Area-based Ms. Braz of the Center for Biological Diversity.]
Dear Friends,
Thank you again for your support of AB1301, which would place a moratorium on fracking in California. We wanted to give you a quick update for those who may not have heard the news.
AB1301, Assemblymember Richard Bloom’s (D-Santa Monica) bill would place a moratorium on fracking and require legislative action to lift that moratorium. It has been held in Appropriations. The good news is that the bill remains alive and can be a two-year bill, giving us more time to spread the word about fracking in California and organize more support together.
http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB1301&search_keywords=
AB1323, Assemblymember Holly Mitchell’s (D-Culver City) fracking moratorium bill passed out of Appropriations but it was dramatically weakened and was defeated on the Assembly floor by a vote of 24 Ayes, 37 No’s and 18 No Vote Recorded (http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billStatusClient.xhtml ). Provisions that would have required a study of fracking and its impacts were struck. The moratorium that was to be in place while that study took place and until fracking was deemed safe was omitted. The amended bill would have enacted a moratorium only until the state agency governing fracking issues regulations, which are being developed currently without the proper study.
http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB1323&search_keywords=
And, AB649, Assemblymember Adrin Nazarian’s (D-Sherman Oaks) fracking moratorium bill also was held in Appropriations. Like AB1301, this means that the bill remains alive and can also be a two-year bill. http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB649&search_keywords=
While we had hoped to move a moratorium bill forward this year, we nonetheless know that together we have made tremendous progress in a very short time. We look forward to working with you in the coming months to halt fracking in California.
Ms. Braz may be contacted at rbraz@biologicadiversity.org
Ms. Rona Tuttle may be contacted at rebecca.rona@hotmail.com
