[env-trinity] EGN Contributor Dan Bacher's Reporting on Illegal Dumping of Fracking Wastewater is Project Censored's #2 Story

[Dan Bacher]

Good Morning

Special thanks go to Dan Gougherty of elkgrovenews.net for writing  
this very nice story about Project Censored's #2 Story. Following the  
articles are the links to the coverage of the Project Censored Top 10  
by the East Bay Express and Reno News and Review and a link to the  
Project Censored website.

I've also attached the two stories about fracking wastewater and Big  
Oil Money and Power that were cited by Project Censored.

Thanks
Dan


http://www.elkgrovenews.net/2015/10/egn-contributor-dan-bachers-reporting.html

EGN Contributor Dan Bacher's Reporting on Illegal Dumping of Fracking  
Wastewater is Project Censored's #2 Story of 2015
Written By EGN on Sunday, October 18, 2015 | 10:00


October 18, 2015 |

If being censored by corporate mainstream media were a badge of honor,  
Elk Grove News contributor and Fish Sniffer managing editor Dan Bacher  
would be highly decorated.

According to ProjectCensored.org, Bacher's 2014 story on the oil  
industry's illegal dumping of waste water into Central California's  
aquifers was the second most significant story not covered by  
mainstream media outlets. In their summary Project Censored noted "In  
May 2015, the Los Angeles Times ran a front-page feature on Central  
Valley crops irrigated with treated oil field water; however, the Los  
Angeles Times report made no mention of the Center for Biological  
Diversity’s findings regarding fracking wastewater contamination."

In addition, months earlier Bacher also reported on the cozy  
relationship between big oil and California state legislatures who  
received over $63 million to persuade them to continue fracking in the  
state. Connecting the dots, Bacher and Danny Shaw of Maplight.org  
documented that California state "senators who voted against the  
moratorium [SB 1132] received fourteen times more money in campaign  
contributions from the oil industry than those who voted for it.

Congratulations to Bacher for his tenacity in reporting on this  
important matter that the mainstream media has ignored. The entire  
list of the top 25 censored stories can be viewed here.


2. Coverage of Project Censored Top 10 Stories:
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/censored-ten-big-stories-the-news-media-ignored/Content?oid=4536284
https://www.newsreview.com/reno/censored-ten-big-stories/content?oid=18830959
http://www.projectcensored.org/oil-industry-illegally-dumps-fracking-wastewater/

3. Dan Bacher, “Massive Dumping of Wastewater into Aquifers Shows Big  
Oil’s Power in California,” IndyBay, October 11, 2014, http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/10/11/18762739.php 
.
The illegal dumping took place in a state where Big Oil is the most  
powerful corporate lobby and the Western States Petroleum Association  
(WSPA) is the most powerful corporate lobbying organization, alarming  
facts that the majority of the public and even many environmental  
activists are not aware of. An analysis of reports filed with the  
California Secretary of State shows that the oil industry collectively  
spent over $63 million lobbying California policymakers between  
January 1, 2009 and June 30, 2014.

stop_fracking.jpg

Massive dumping of wastewater into aquifers shows Big Oil's power in  
California

Oil industry illegally injected nearly 3 billion gallons of wastewater

by Dan Bacher

As the oil industry spent record amounts on lobbying in Sacramento and  
made record profits, documents obtained by the Center for Biological  
Diversity reveal that almost 3 billion gallons of oil industry  
wastewater were illegally dumped into Central California aquifers that  
supply drinking water and irrigation water for farms.

The Center said the wastewater entered the aquifers through at least  
nine injection disposal wells used by the oil industry to dispose of  
waste contaminated with fracking (hydraulic fracturing) fluids and  
other pollutants. (http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/california_fracking/pdfs/20140915_State_Board_UIC_well_list_Category_1a.pdf 
)

The documents also reveal that Central Valley Regional Water Quality  
Board testing found high levels of arsenic, thallium and nitrates,  
contaminants sometimes found in oil industry wastewater, in water- 
supply wells near these waste-disposal operations.

The illegal dumping took place in a state where Big Oil is the most  
powerful corporate lobby and the Western States Petroleum Association  
(WSPA) is the most powerful corporate lobbying organization, alarming  
facts that the majority of the public and even many environmental  
activists are not aware of.

An analysis of reports filed with the California Secretary of State  
shows that the oil industry collectively spent over $63 million  
lobbying California policymakers between January 1, 2009 and June 30,  
2014. The Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), led by  
President Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the former chair of the Marine Life  
Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative Blue Ribbon Task Force to create so- 
called "marine protected areas" in Southern California, topped the oil  
industry lobby spending with $26,969,861.

The enormous influence that the oil lobby exerts over legislators,  
agency leaders, the Governor's Office and state and federal regulatory  
officials is the reason why Big Oil has been able to contaminate  
groundwater aquifers, rivers and ocean waters in California for  
decades with impunity. The contamination of aquifers becomes even more  
alarming when one considers that California is now reeling from a  
record drought where people, farms, fish and wildlife are suffering  
from extremely low conditions in reservoirs, rivers and streams.

Hollin Kretzmann, a Center attorney, criticized state regulators for  
failing to do their job of protecting precious water supplies from oil  
industry pollution - and urged Governor Jerry Brown to take action to  
halt the environmentally destructive practice of fracking in  
California. (http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2014/fracking-10-06-2014.html 
)

"Clean water is one of California’s most crucial resources, and these  
documents make it clear that state regulators have utterly failed to  
protect our water from oil industry pollution," said Kretzmann. "Much  
more testing is needed to gauge the full extent of water pollution and  
the threat to public health. But Governor Brown should move quickly to  
halt fracking to ward off a surge in oil industry wastewater that  
California simply isn’t prepared to dispose of safely.”

Kretzmann said the State Water Resources Control Board "confirmed  
beyond doubt" that at least nine wastewater disposal wells have been  
injecting waste into aquifers that contain high-quality water that is  
supposed to be protected under federal and state law. (http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/california_fracking/pdfs/20140915_Bishop_letter_to_Blumenfeld_Responding_to_July_17_2014_UIC_Letter.pdf 
)

"Thallium is an extremely toxic chemical commonly used in rat poison,"  
according to a statement from the Center. "Arsenic is a toxic chemical  
that can cause cancer. Some studies show that even low-level exposure  
to arsenic in drinking water can compromise the immune system’s  
ability to fight illness."

“Arsenic and thallium are extremely dangerous chemicals,” said Timothy  
Krantz, a professor of environmental studies at the University of  
Redlands. “The fact that high concentrations are showing up in  
multiple water wells close to wastewater injection sites raises major  
concerns about the health and safety of nearby residents.”

The Center obtained a letter from the State Water Resources Control  
Board to the federal Environmental Protection Agency stating that the  
Central Valley Regional Water Quality Board has confirmed that  
injection wells have been dumping oil industry waste into aquifers  
that are legally protected under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.

The State Water Board also concedes that another 19 wells may also  
have contaminated protected aquifers, and dozens more have been  
injecting waste into aquifers of unknown quality.

"The Central Valley Water Board tested eight water-supply wells out of  
more than 100 in the vicinity of these injection wells," according to  
the Center. "Arsenic, nitrate and thallium exceeded the maximum  
contaminant level in half the water samples."

The Vote No on Prop. 1 (Water Bond) Campaign responded to the Center's  
release of the documents by pointing out the irony of the fact that  
the same Legislature that nearly unanimously voted to put the water  
bond on the November ballot also rejected a fracking moratorium in  
California

"Prop 1 folks tout how it will provide funding to clean up groundwater  
in the SJ Valley," according to a statement from the campaign. "This  
is something we want to see too. But if fracking is unregulated and  
fracking wells are already leaking, shouldn't we work on the fracking  
moratorium first? Or at least simultaneously. And the legislators who  
passed Prop 1 voted against the fracking moratorium."

It is no surprise that the State Senators who voted no on the fracking  
moratorium bill received 14 times more money in campaign contributions  
from the oil industry than those who voted no on the measure. (http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/06/07/18757051.php 
)

Restore the Delta responded to the report also: "At RTD, we have  
always known that water needs to be shared from the Delta- we argue  
that it must be at levels that are sustainable for the estuary. When  
we see items like this, however, it's hard to maintain that reasonable  
stance. We predicted a year ago that SJ Valley fracking sites would  
contaminate groundwater, making the region more dependent on water  
exports."

Long term threat posed by waste water disposal may be even worse

The Center said that while the current extent of contamination is  
cause for "grave concern," the long-term threat posed by the unlawful  
wastewater disposal may be even more devastating.

"Benzene, toluene and other harmful chemicals used in fracking fluid  
are routinely found in flowback water coming out of oil wells in  
California, often at levels hundreds of times higher than what is  
considered safe, and this flowback fluid is sent to wastewater  
disposal wells. Underground migration of chemicals like benzene can  
take years," the Center stated.

The state’s Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) shut  
down 11 Kern County oil field injection wells and began scrutinizing  
almost 100 others that were potentially contaminating protected  
groundwater. The Environmental Protection Agency, which has ultimate  
legal authority over underground injection, ordered state officials to  
provide an assessment of the water-contamination risk within 60 days,  
and the letter from the state Water Board confirms that illegal  
contamination has occurred at multiple sites.

California’s oil and gas fields produce billions of gallons of  
contaminated wastewater each year, much of which is injected  
underground. California has an estimated 2,583 wastewater injection  
wells, of which 1,552 are currently active, according to the Center.

Wastewater injection wells are located throughout the state, from the  
Chico area in Northern California to Los Angeles in Southern  
California and even include offshore wells near Santa Barbara. Kern  
County in the Southern San Joaquin Valley is home to the largest  
number of oil wells in California.

The fracking wastewater poses a huge threat not only to human health,  
but to fish including endangered and threatened salmon and steelhead  
and wildlife as the water makes its way to rivers and streams. The  
last thing that imperiled salmon and steelhead populations need, as  
they face a combination of drought and poor management of the state's  
reservoirs and rivers by the state and federal agencies, is the threat  
of increased pollution of their habitat by benzene, toluene and other  
harmful fracking chemicals,

A recent study by the US Drought Monitor reported that 58 percent of  
California is experiencing “exceptional drought,” the most serious  
category on the agency’s five-level scale. A fracking job can require  
as much as 140,000 to 150,000 gallons of water per day. (http://www.desmogblog.com/2014/08/01/fracking-making-california-s-drought-worse-say-activists 
)

For more information, go to: http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/

Big Oil power and money dominates California politics

As an investigative journalist who has written many articles  
documenting oil industry power and money in California politics, I  
find it extremely important to review recent financial data on the oil  
industry in California. This data reveals how the regulated have  
captured the regulators in California, just like Wall Street big banks  
captured the regulatory apparatus.

While there are many powerful industries based in California, ranging  
from the computer and high tech industry to corporate agribusiness, no  
industry has more influence over the state's environmental policies  
than Big Oil. Unfortunately, most of the public and even many  
environmental activists have no idea how much influence the oil  
industry has on the Governor, the Legislature and state panels and  
environmental processes in the state.

An ongoing analysis of reports filed with the California Secretary of  
State shows that the oil industry collectively spent over $63 million  
lobbying California policymakers between January 1, 2009 and June 30,  
2014. The Western States Petroleum Association led the oil industry  
lobby spending with $26,969,861.

"The oil industry is spending over $1 million per month lobbying  
Sacramento, with the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) as  
the second overall leading spender so far in 2014 with almost $3  
million spent in the past six months," according to Stop Fooling  
California (http://www.stopfoolingca.org), an online and social media  
public education and awareness campaign that highlights oil companies  
efforts to mislead and confuse Californians. "Chevron, with $1.3  
million spent so far in 2014, is also among the top five. If money  
speaks, Big Oil has the loudest voice in politics."

WSPA was California’s second overall leading lobbyist spender, with  
$1.5 million spent in the second quarter of 2014. This is the second  
largest quarter going back to January 2009.

WSPA is on pace to exceed the previous record annual (2012) total in  
2014. WSPA has paid over $2 million to KP Public Affairs, the state’s  
highest paid lobbying firm, during the current (2013-14) legislative  
session, according to the group. WSPA spent $4,670,010 on lobbying in  
2013 and $5,698,917 in 2012.

Chevron is the fifth overall spender in California through the second  
quarter of 2014, having spent $784,757 that quarter, an increase of  
nearly $300,000 over the prior quarter.

Yet these millions of dollars are just chump change to Big Oil, since  
the five big oil companies made over $93 billion in profits in 2013.  
This year, Big Oil's profits are estimated to be over $72 billion to  
date, based on information from The Center for American Progress (http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/news/2014/02/10/83879/with-only-93-billion-in-profits-the-big-five-oil-companies-demand-to-keep-tax-breaks/ 
)

A report released on April 1, 2014 by the ACCE Institute and Common  
Cause reveals that Big Oil has spent $143.3 million on political  
candidates and campaigns – nearly $10 million per year and more than  
any other corporate lobby – over the past fifteen years. (http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2014/04/10/bil_oil_floods_the_capitol_4.1.14v2.pdf 
)

But Big Oil exerts its influence not just by making campaign  
contributions, but also by lobbying legislators at the State Capitol.  
The oil industry spent $123.6 million to lobby elected officials in  
California from 1999 through 2013. This was an increase of over 400  
percent since the 1999-2000 legislative session, when the industry  
spent $4.8 million. In 2013-2014 alone, the top lobbyist employer,  
Western States Petroleum Association, spent $4.7 million.

Big Oil's enormous influence over the California Legislature was  
exposed when Governor Jerry Brown in September 2013 signed Senator  
Fran Pavley's Senate Bill 4, the green light for fracking bill, after  
oil industry lobbyists gutted the already weak bill to "regulate"  
fracking in California. The bill “undermines existing environmental  
law and leaves Californians unprotected from fracking and other  
dangerous and extreme fossil fuel extraction techniques,” stated  
Californians Against Fracking, a statewide coalition of over 100  
organizations now calling for a moratorium on fracking.

Oil industry officials serve on regulatory and advisory panels

The oil industry also exerts its muscle by serving on and dominating  
state and federal regulatory and advisory panels. For example,  
Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the President of the Western States Petroleum  
Association, chaired the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative  
Blue Ribbon Task Force to create alleged "marine protected areas" in  
Southern California. She also served on the task forces to create  
"marine protected areas" on the Central Coast, North Central Coast and  
South Coast.

It is no surprise that the so-called "marine protected areas" created  
under the helm of Reheis-Boyd and other corporate operatives failed to  
protect the ocean from fracking offshore oil drilling, pollution,  
corporate aquaculture, military testing and all human impacts on the  
ocean other than sustainable fishing and gathering.

Ironically, while WSPA President Catherine Reheis-Boyd served on the  
task forces to "protect" the ocean, the same oil industry that the  
"marine guardian" represents was conducting environmentally  
destructive hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations off the  
Southern California coast.

Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and media  
investigations by Associated Press and truthout.org reveal that the  
ocean has been fracked at least 203 times in the past 20 years,  
including the period from 2004 to 2012 that Reheis-Boyd served as a  
"marine guardian.” (http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/10/19/calif-finds-more-instances-of-offshore-fracking/3045721/ 
)

To make matters worse, Reheis-Boyd also serves on a federal government  
marine protected areas panel. The National Marine Protected Areas  
Center website lists Reheis-Boyd as a member of a 20 member MPA  
(Marine Protected Areas) Advisory Committee.

In addition to the oil industry spending exerting its enormous power  
through campaign contributions, lobbying legislators and serving on  
state and federal regulatory panels, the oil industry also has set up  
"Astroturf" groups, including the California Drivers Alliance and  
Fueling California, to fight against environmental regulations  
protecting our air, water, land, fish, wildlife and human health.

"The set up is basically this: some Californian (who is supposed to be  
your proxy) regurgitates Big Oil talking points that don't resemble  
reality, equating protecting Big Oil's profits with protecting the  
people," according to Stop Fooling California.

Most recently, the Monterey Herald reported that San Benito United for  
Energy Independence, the oil and gas industry-funded group behind a  
slate of ads airing throughout the Central Coast on TV and radio,  
raised more than $1.7 million to fight Measure J, an initiative to ban  
fracking in San Benito Count that goes before the voters on November  
4. "While the group touts its local ties, none of the money funding  
Measure J's opposition comes from San Benito County," said reporter  
Jason Hoppin.

"San Benito United is entirely funded by an industry-backed group  
called Californians for Energy Independence. Oil companies have been  
pumping millions into that group in the last few months, including  
$2.5 million from San Ramon-based Chevron, $2.1 million from San Ardo- 
based Aera Energy and $2 million from Houston-based Occidental  
Petroleum," said Hoppin. (http://www.montereyherald.com/localnews/ci_26698353/big-oil-opens-wallet-fight-fracking-bans 
)

Politicians like Governor Jerry Brown like to portray California as a  
"green" leader, but the reality is that the oil industry, along with  
agribusiness and other corporate lobbies, exerts enormous influence  
over the state's environmental policies, making the claims that  
California is a "green" state highly dubious.


4. Dan Bacher, “Senators Opposing Fracking Moratorium Received 14x  
More Money from Big Oil,” IndyBay, June 7, 2014, http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/06/07/18757051.php 
.
The failure of the fracking moratorium bill on May 29 is a classic  
example of the inordinate power that the oil industry, the most  
powerful corporate lobby in Sacramento, exerts over California politics.

Photo of fracking operation courtesy of MapLight.

fracker.jpg

Senators opposing fracking moratorium received 14x more money from Big  
Oil

By Dan Bacher

Five days after a bill calling for a moratorium on fracking in  
California failed in the State Senate, a non partisan watchdog group  
revealed that those who voted against the legislation or abstained  
from voting on it received many times more in campaign contributions  
from the oil and gas industry than those who supported the bill.

State Senators voting 'NO' on the fracking moratorium bill on  
Thursday, May 29 received 14 times as much money the oil and gas  
industry, on average ($25,227), as senators voting 'YES' ($1,772) from  
January 1, 2009 to December 21, 2012, according to MapLight, a non  
profit organization revealing money's influence on politics.

The report also said the Democrats who abstained from voting on the  
moratorium received, on average, 4.5 times as much money from the oil  
and gas industry as the Democrats who voted 'YES'.

Under intense pressure from the Western States Petroleum Association,  
Chevron, Occidental Petroleum and other oil companies, the Senate  
failed to pass Senate Bill 1132, legislation that would have placed a  
moratorium on oil and gas well stimulation treatments, including  
hydraulic and acid fracturing, until the government completes a  
scientific study of the practices' impacts on human and environmental  
health. The bill was authored by Senators Holly Mitchell and Mark Leno.

The final vote was 16-16, with eight Senators not voting. Twenty-one  
votes were required for the bill to pass. Three of those with no vote  
recorded – Leland Yee, Rod Wright and Ron Calderon - have been  
suspended from the Senate due to corruption allegations.

"If the five active senators who abstained from voting -all Democrats- 
voted in favor, the moratorium would have passed," according to a  
statement from MapLight. “The Democrats who abstained from voting on  
the moratorium have received, on average, 4.5 times as much money from  
the oil and gas industry as the Democrats who voted 'YES'."

Senator Jeanne Fuller (R), who received $52,300 from the oil and gas  
industry, more than any other senator voting on the bill, voted 'NO'.

Fuller is known not only for her big contributions from the oil and  
gas industry but from corporate agribusiness in Kern County. It was  
Fuller who sponsored legislation to eradicate striped bass in the Bay- 
Delta estuary, a bill that failed twice due to massive opposition by  
recreational anglers and grassroots environmentalists.

The oil industry contributions to the Senators voting NO were as  
follows:
Joel Anderson (R) $18,750
Tom Berryhill (R): $15,000
Anthony Cannella (R): $40,150
Lou Correa (D): $11,350
Jean Fuller (R): $52,300
Ted Gaines (R): $27,250
Cathleen Galgiani (D): $24,950
Ed Hernandez (D): $23,250
Bob Huff (R): $45,550
Steve Knight (R): $24,050
Mike Morrell (R): $19,300
Norma Torres (D): $13,250
Mimi Walters (R): $51,000
Mark Wyland (R) - $12,250

When one adds in the oil industry contributions for 2013, the campaign  
contributions mushroom. For example, Fuller received $76,850 from 2009  
to 2013, while Galgiani received $47,600.

The oil and gas industry contributions to those Democrats who  
abstained from voting were as follows:
Marty Block: $2000
Jerry Hill: $3,950
Ben Hueso: $12,400
Ricardo Lara: $21,300
Richard Roth: $ 0

The MapLight analysis of campaign contributions from PACs and  
employees of oil and gas interests to legislators in office on the day  
of the vote was during the period from January 1, 2009 - December 31,  
2012. The National Institute of Money in State Politics was the data  
source for the campaign contributions.

For more information, go to: http://maplight.org/content/fracking-oil-gas-hydraulic-fracturing-ca-legislature-bill?utm_source=Fracking+Bill+Killed+by+CA+Leg.&utm_campaign=CA+SB+1132+-+Fracking+Bill&utm_medium=email

Big oil spent $123.6 million on lobbying from 1999 through 2013

The failure of the fracking moratorium bill on May 29 is a classic  
example of the inordinate power that the oil industry, the most  
powerful corporate lobby in Sacramento, exerts over California politics.

A report released on April 1, 2014 by the ACCE Institute and Common  
Cause reveals that Big Oil has spent $143.3 million on political  
candidates and campaigns – nearly $10 million per year and more than  
any other corporate lobby – over the past fifteen years. (http://www.commoncause.org/atf/cf/%7Bfb3c17e2-cdd1-4df6-92be-bd4429893665%7D/BIL%20OIL%20FLOODS%20THE%20CAPITOL%204.1.14.PDF 
)

But Big Oil exerts its influence not just by making campaign  
contributions, but by lobbying legislators at the State Capitol. The  
Western States Petroleum Association, the most powerful corporate  
lobbying group in Sacramento. spent $123.6 million to lobby elected  
officials in California from 1999 through 2013. This was an increase  
of over 400 percent since the 1999-2000 legislative session, when the  
industry spent $4.8 million.

The combination of the $143.3 million in political candidate and  
campaign contributions and $123.6 million spent lobbying legislators  
amounts to a stunning $266.9 million over the past 15 years.

The report, “Big Oil Floods the Capitol: How California’s Oil  
Companies Funnel Funds Into the Legislature,” also exposes how the oil  
and gas lobby has spent nearly $15 million to influence Sacramento  
lawmakers halfway through the 2014-15 legislative session. The record  
is $25.5 million, set in 2011.

While the mainstream media failed to cover the Common Cause/ACCE  
report, the LA Times did report on the Maplight report on Big Oil's  
campaign contributions to legislators voting no or abstaining on the  
fracking moratorium bill (http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/ 
p2p-80409776/). This is a very positive development - and I hope that  
the LA Times reporters and editors do some more indepth research, as I  
have done, into the power of the oil industry in California.

Big Oil lobbyist oversaw creation of Southern California "marine  
protected areas"

It is critical to realize that the oil and chemical industry exerts  
its influence not just through spending enormous sums on lobbying and  
contributions to political campaigns, but by serving on state and  
federal government panels. This is a topic that the LA Times and other  
mainstream media outlets have failed to explore.

You won’t find any mention in the LA Times or other corporate media  
outlets about one of the biggest conflicts of interest in California  
environmental history – the key leadership role that a big oil  
lobbyist played in the creation of alleged “marine protected areas” in  
California.

Catherine Reheis-Boyd, President of the Western States Petroleum  
Association, served as the Chair of the Marine Life Protection Act  
(MLPA) Initiative Blue Ribbon Task Force to create so-called "marine  
protected areas" in Southern California, as well as sitting on the  
task forces for the Central Coast, North Central Coast and North Coast.

The alleged "Yosemites of the Sea" created under Reheis-Boyd's  
"leadership" fail to protect the ocean from fracking, oil drilling,  
pollution, military testing, corporate aquaculture and all human  
impacts on the ocean other than sustainable fishing and tribal  
gathering. These “marine protected areas” are good for big oil and  
ocean industrialists – and bad for recreational anglers, Tribal  
gatherers, commercial fishermen and the people of California.

At the same time that Reheis-Boyd, MLPA Initiative advocates and state  
officials were greenwashing one of the most corrupt environmental  
processes in California history, the oil industry was fracking like  
crazy in Southern California ocean waters.

“In waters off Long Beach, Seal Beach and Huntington Beach — some of  
the region's most popular surfing strands and tourist attractions —  
oil companies have used fracking at least 203 times at six sites in  
the past two decades, according to interviews and drilling records  
obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request,”  
reported USA Today on October 19, 2013. (http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/10/19/calif-finds-more-instances-of-offshore-fracking/3045721/ 
)

The greenwashing of Big Oil's role in "marine protection"

I suspect that the failure of the LA Times and other mainstream media  
outlets to report on the prominent role the Western States Petroleum  
President played in the crafting of fake “marine protected areas” in  
southern California is because their reporters, editors and publishers  
have been bamboozled by state officials and corporate  
“environmentalists” as to what really happened in the MLPA Initiative  
process.

For example, an article published in the LA Times on December 19,  
2012, completely greenwashed the MLPA Initiative fiasco, claiming that  
"California officials today completed the largest network of undersea  
parks in the continental United States — 848 square miles of protected  
waters that reach from the Oregon state line to the Mexican border." (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-undersea-parks-20121219,0,4717471.story 
)

This piece, as in previous ones in the Times, failed to address any of  
the real, substantial criticisms of the Marine Life Protection Act  
(MLPA) Initiative process by grassroots environmentalists, Indian  
Tribe members, commercial fishermen, recreational anglers and  
advocates of democracy and transparency in government, including the  
role that the Western States Petroleum Association President played in  
the creation of these alleged “undersea parks.”

The reporter, Kenneth R. Weiss, portrayed a false conflict of  
"fishermen versus environmentalists" over the MLPA Initiative when the  
real conflict is one of public policy between those that favor  
corporate greenwashing and the privatization of conservation and those  
who oppose corporate greenwashing and the privatization of  
conservation. The reporter fails to mention any of "inconvenient  
truths" about the MLPA Initiative, including Catherine Reheis-Boyd’s  
chairing of the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force.

Not only did Reheis-Boyd help craft oil industry-friendly "marine  
protected areas" in California, but she currently sits on a federal  
marine protected areas panel. The National Marine Protected Areas  
Center website lists Reheis-Boyd as a member of a 20 member MPA  
(Marine Protected Areas) Advisory Committee. (http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/03/28/big-oil-lobbyist-serves-on-federal-marine-protected-areas-panel/ 
)

Reheis Boyd has also "served" on other government and non-profit  
organization commissions and committees, as revealed in her biography  
published on the Department of Fish and Wildlife website (http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/mpa/brtf_bios_sc.asp 
):

"Reheis-Boyd was appointed by the Governor as a California petroleum  
industry representative on the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact  
Commission and is a member of the California Chamber of Commerce  
Natural Resources and Policy Committee. She has chaired the  
Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce Air Quality Committee, and was past  
president of the Sacramento chapter of the Air & Waste Management  
Association. She has also served as past president of the Kern County  
Chapter of the American Lung Association, and is a past recipient of  
the Bureau of Land Management's State Director's Oil and Gas Award for  
Special Achievement."

To really understand the power of Big Oil in California, you have to  
look at not just the money spent on campaign contributions and  
lobbying, but also at the role the oil industry plays on government  
panels and in manipulating environmental processes.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www2.dcn.org/pipermail/env-trinity/attachments/20151023/9a021abc/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Censorship.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 15756 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://www2.dcn.org/pipermail/env-trinity/attachments/20151023/9a021abc/attachment.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: stop_fracking.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 49507 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://www2.dcn.org/pipermail/env-trinity/attachments/20151023/9a021abc/attachment-0001.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: fracker.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 109284 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://www2.dcn.org/pipermail/env-trinity/attachments/20151023/9a021abc/attachment-0002.jpg>