MOSCOW (Sputnik) — California Department of Conservation has admitted to the state legislature it failed to enforce legislation on oil companies found to have injected wastewater into hundreds of disposal wells, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Contaminated groundwater is one in a series of concerns over fracking, the controversial practice of injecting high-pressure liquid into the soil to extract shale oil and gas.
A state senate hearing was held late Tuesday in the wake of recent revelations regarding at least 300 previously unknown waste sites that were found to be contaminating water resources statewide.
According to the newspaper, Sacramento lawmakers admonished the California Department of Conservation for a lack of oversight of oil and gas companies.
"There has been a serious imbalance between the role regulating the oil and gas industry and the role of protecting the public," Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson was quoted by the newspaper as saying.
California is the third-largest oil producing US state with annual revenues of $34 billion, according to the newspaper.
