Fracking Moratorium Dies on Senate Floor

Senator Holly J. Mitchell (D-Culver City) fracking moratorium bill, SB 1132, fell short of passage on a final 16-16 Senate floor vote.

Mitchell sounded upbeat in her assessment of the defeat, "Last year our efforts to enact a moratorium got as far as an Assembly committee, and this year all the way to the floor of the Senate," noted Senator Mitchell, who carried a similar bill, AB 1323, while serving in the Assembly. "We have the momentum, this issue's gone viral nationally, and it's just a matter of time before the dangers of fracking prompt people to put it on pause until its safety can be established."

"When the impacts on the public of a for-profit endeavor are unknown, it gets tried out first in minority neighborhoods – on the assumption that low vigilance and the need for jobs makes safety irrelevant," said the Senator. "But we've put big industry on notice: That ploy won't fly forever. People's neighborhoods aren't fodder for fracking, environmental justice must come, and one day soon the vote to refrain from polluting for profit will prevail!"