Politics & Government
Protest Planned at Public Meeting on New Exemption for Oil Producer
BREAKING: The public hearing started at 5 p.m. in the Livermore City Council Chambers.
LIVERMORE, CA — Environmental advocates are donning hazmat suits and bringing prop barrels of toxic waste to protest a proposed plan by Alameda County's only oil producer to expand the area it can dispose of wastewater to the Livermore border.
E&B Natural Resources, which produces about 1,000 barrels a day from wells east of Livermore, filed a request last year to expand its existing aquifer exemption, first issued in 1983. The Bakersfield company
operates 25 oil and gas fields in four states.
E&B currently removes a mixture of oil and water from its wells in Alameda County, extracts the oil, and pumps the wastewater back into the ground. Expanding the company's exemption would broaden the area where it legally can dispose of wastewater to the Livermore border.
Find out what's happening in Livermorefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The state Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources and state Water Resources Control Board has granted preliminary approval to the plan, saying that the groundwater in the area is already full of naturally
occurring oil and therefore not suitable for drinking water.
But the Oakland-based environmental group Center for Biological Diversity has argued that the company has not made a convincing case that nearby wells will not be contaminated by the wastewater.
Find out what's happening in Livermorefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The group also raised questions about whether the Greenville Fault, which forms one border of the underground aquifer, will keep groundwater from being contaminated in the event of an earthquake.
"Oil-industry wastewater injection has been implicated in earthquakes in Oklahoma, Texas and California. Even minor tremors could endanger other nearby water supplies by opening up pathways to
contamination," representatives of the environmental group wrote in a statement.
Tonight's public hearing started at 5 p.m. in the Livermore City Council Chambers, 3575 Pacific Ave. Written comments can be submitted until Jan. 25 to comments@conservation.ca.gov by FAX to (916) 445-3319, or by mail to: Department of Conservation, 801 K St., MS 18-05 Sacramento, CA 95814 ATTN: Aquifer Exemption.
By Bay City News
Photo via Shutterstock
