Hydraulic Fracturing in the Golden State: Ban CaliFRACKnia.

In this project to ban hydraulic fracturing in California, we proposed a campaign approach inspired by NRDC's Joel Reynolds. The campaign uses scientific research to support the environmental and human risks associated with fracking processes. Specifically, the report highlights the importance of protecting the state's water quality and supply. We aim to raise awareness of fracking in communities, coalesce with other environmental groups to create a united front, involve industries possibly affected by fracking, and generate a viral petition. Visible below are examples of our campaign work, as an illustration of our team work we created a flyer that would be used to spark interest among communities.

This flyer is constructed by Amy Tat with the assisting of Evelyn Loya.

The flyer is an example of the type of ad campaign that would be waged to promote events in educating the public of the consequences of fracking, specifically the threats to local water supply and quality. Communities, such as the San Joaquin Valley that has historically fought over water rights (Garthwaite, 2013), would learn about fracking processes and current legislation at community meetings. Further, we would concentrate our efforts on raising interest on the environmental and human health effects of fracking processes. Using GIS data from the DOGGR website (2013) and UCLA (2010), we were able to find elementary schools within a 5-mile radius of current fracking wells in Los Angeles County, California. The map is observable below. 

Los Angeles County: Elementary Schools v. Fracking Wells Map by Evelyn Loya

The map provides detail points of interest in which campaign efforts would be focused as these communities are at most risk of the consequences of fracking. The black dots represent elementary schools, the red asterisks represent Hydraulic Fracturing Wells (2013), and the red circles are of fracking wells and surrounding elementary schools within a 5-mile radius. Another example of a map used to target specific communities is observable below. 

Kern County, CA: Agricultural Lands v. Hydraulic Fracturing Wells Map by Evelyn Loya

Again by using GIS data from the DOGGR website (2013) as well as data from Kern County Development Services Agency (2011), and UCLA (2010), we were able to find the location of current hydraulic fracturing wells within a 5 miles radius of agricultural lands. We wanted to pursue east Kern County due to the areas dependence on producing crops such as almonds, carrots, and grapes. It is reasonable that this area may face contaminated surface water from fracking processes that imposes a threat on soils. 

Again, the above images are examples of our campaign approach of implementing a ban on fracking within California. Throughout our report we use scientific research to support our claims as well as provide the positive and the negative consequences of implementing such a ban. This is only highlighting examples. 

References

2010 Census Demographic Profile 1: California Census Tracts (2010). [TigerLine Products Shapefile data used to create voting maps]. US Census Bureau access from Geography. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/data/tiger-data.html.

California Department of Conservation, Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources. (2013). GIS Mapping. State of California. Retrieved from http://www.conservation.ca.gov/dog/maps/Pages/GISMapping2.aspx.

Garthwaite, J. (2013). Monterey Shale Shakes Up California’s Energy Future. National Geographic. Retrieved from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2013/05/130528-monterey-shale-california-fracking/.

Kern County, CA Engineering, Surveying and Permit Services. A Development Services Agency (2011). Cropping Mapping Data [Shapefile]. Retrieved from http://esps.kerndsa.com/gis/gis-download-data.

Los Angeles County GIS Data Portal. (2013). Locations/Points of Interest (LMS Data) - June 2013 Update. GIS Data for LA County. Retrieved from http://egis3.lacounty.gov/dataportal/2011/03/24/locationspoints-of-interest-lms-data/.