HomeMy WebLinkAboutLetter from Grace M. Marvin regarding frackingButte County Board of Supervisors July 4, 2014
25 County Center Drive, Suite 200
Oroville, CA 95965
Dear Supervisors Connelly, Kirk, Lambert, Teeter, and Wahl:
Please consider my request that the ordinance you directed your staff to develop --in order to ban fracking--be
placed on your agenda for the July 29, 2014 Board of Supervisors meeting. Doing so will afford the public the
opportunity to see this document that is, as I understand it, both complete and comprehensive. I am among the
more than 10,000 Butte County citizens who signed a petition that would have resulted in an initiative on the
November ballot, had not the energy companies' lawyers stopped us in our tracks. We had hoped that placing it
on the 2014 ballot would reinforce your April 8, 2014, four to one vote to ban fracking.
I understand that you have many choices regarding your own ordinance. I am very much hoping that your choice
will reflect the desire of a huge number of your constituents to protect Butte County water from fracking or any
related activities. As I write this on the Fourth of July, l am reminded of what we already know, i.e., that our
Declaration of Independence calls for equality among citizens, a representative democracy and, thus, a
representative government, Specifically, it calls for a government by and for the people that would have as its
role the protection of our lives, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
The citizens of Butte County recognize your essential role in ensuring these protections, and so we .have shared
with you our concerns about the dangers of fracking, related stimulations, and waste water issues -- at meetings,
in letters, and in personal conversations. We do not want these procedures with unproven safety to happen here.
The 7/4/2014 Chico Enterprise Record (page 136) , has an article entitled "Study shows how drilling waste water
causes earthquakes." The author points out that fracking not only consumes millions of gallons of water (no
longer usable for farming, health, or recreation), but that this water creates pressures resulting in earthquakes up
to 20 miles away. Even if we in Butte County are not as worried about earthquakes as, perhaps, we should be, we
are are very much concerned about the use of waste ponds and injection wells for the waste water that could be
discarded in our County -- whether or not fracking or related drilling itself goes on. in Butte County. Thus far,
there is not enough evidence that such water can be safely discarded. Instead, it can leak into our aquifers,
waterways, and air.
Please show us that you can speak to the widespread fears of citizens, by moving the process along and allowing
us to at least see the ordinance that your staff developed. Then, we can review it along with you. It is incumbent
upon all of us us to move quickly before unsafe, unconventional drilling and related water disposal create
emergencies for all of us.
I ask that you also please let me know your response to my letter and to place this letter in the public record.
Sincerely,
Grace M. Marvin
1621 N. Cherry St.,
Chico, CA 95926
cc: Mr. Paul Hahn, Chief Administrator Officer
Mr. Bruce S. Alpert, County Counsel
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