Dear Mr. Schwartz:

I'm writing to urge you to protect the Los Padres National Forest from the impacts of fracking and oil drilling. The Forest Service should prepare a full Environmental Impact Statement, and no fracking should be approved until we know more about the potential environmental and public health impacts of this controversial practice.

Fracking waste water is often disposed of in open waste pits. The proposed fracking in the Los Padres National Forest is close to a California Condor sanctuary. Condors will drink from the open pits, be poisoned and a new threat will reduce the already threatened numbers of this remarkable species. California Condors are unbelievable birds, with 9 foot wing spans, that have only recently begun to recover their numbers after coming very close to extinction.

I urge you to take all measures to protect endangered California condors and steelhead from the impacts of oil development. Please ensure that spills of oil and other hazardous chemicals do not enter Sespe Creek or its tributaries.

Fracking threatens human species as well with groundwater contamination, surface water pollution, water consumption, and public health. It is not acceptable to approve any more fracking in such an environmentally sensitive area until the potential impacts are fully known, and until measures are put into place to protect our forest and our water supplies from environmental harm.

Again, I urge the Forest Service to prepare a full Environmental Impact Statement before approving any fracking operations in Los Padres National Forest. Thank you for your efforts to protect our forest and surrounding communities.

Thank you.


Barbara Stebbins

Berkeley, CA 94702