California regulators said an enhanced monitoring regime for oil and gas production that is part of the state’s new fracking regulations would shore up groundwater protection, Reuters reports.
The law, signed by Governor Jerry Brown in September, introduces stringent regulations of hydraulic fracturing as well as of acid injection in anticipation of greater industry efforts to develop the state’s vast Monterey shale, writes Braden Reddall and Rory Carroll of Reuters news service.
The law will require testing of groundwater around fracking sites starting on Jan. 1, 2014, the Reuters report notes; it also allows property owners in the vicinity of a fracking site to request to have their drinking water independently tested at the well operator’s expense.
