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Science
Fracking Bills Fail in California Legislature
State lawmakers have one more week to vote on bills this legislative session, but one issue they won’t be talking about is hydraulic fracturing. Efforts to regulate the controversial drilling technique failed.
AB 972 would have banned hydraulic fracturing - or fracking - until the state puts regulations in place later this year. The practice, where high pressure liquid is injected underground, is used mostly to extract oil in California.
Bill Allayaud of the non-profit Environmental Working Group says lawmakers were closer to passing another bill, AB 591, which would have required oil companies to disclose what chemicals they use.
“They use a lot of very toxic chemicals like hydrochloric acid, formaldehyde, benzene, diesel fuel, and we think those should be reported,” says Allayaud.
The disclosure bill failed for a second year due to concerns from oil companies over protecting trade secrets. Allayaud says regulators are expected to release the state's first fracking regulations in a few months.
