Los Angeles, CA: The Committee to Protect Agricultural Water, a citizen organization comprised of farmers and individuals concerned about California' drinking water, filed a civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) complaint in Federal Court.
The RICO Complaint alleges that Governor Jerry Brown' office ordered the California Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources ("DOGGR") to approve permits to inject contaminated water in violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act.
The lawsuit alleges that "The Oil Companies, Governor' Office, Director of Conservation Mark Nechodom, State Oil & Gas Supervisor Tim Kustic, Director of the Kern County Planning and Development Department Lorelei Oviatt, DOGGR, WSPA, CIPA, and others known and unknown, formed an "enterprise"("the Enterprise") to achieve through illegal means the goal of increasing oil production and maximizing profits and tax revenue by allowing the Oil Companies to inject salt water into fresh water in violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act."
According to the complaint, "Timothy Kustic promised oil companies a "flexible"approach to approving permits. As a result, permit approvals went from the typical 50 permits a year to 1,575 permits in 2012 alone.
According to the complaint, "In 2015, Defendant Mark Nechodom testified before the California Senate, telling them that DOGGR had not focused on whether oil companies directly injected into federally protected waters (specifically aquifers not exempted from the Safe Drinking Water Act) because DOGGR was so focused on hydraulic fracturing." However, this was not how Kustic described the status of the underground injection control (UIC) program to the United States Environmental Protection Agency on June 7, 2012. Kustic reassured the opposite: he exchanged emails with the EPA, telling them that hydraulic fracturing had the media' attention, but "the bulk of our resources are going towards the Underground Injection Control (UIC) program improvements."The plaintiffs allege Nechodom' testimony was false and misleading, done to cover-up the violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act that should have led to indictments.
The lawsuit alleges that "Lorelei Oviatt, the Director of the Kern County Planning and Development Department, knew of complaints by farmers and of environmental problems before anyone else in the community. She used her position to delay public notice of the problems and to block efforts to adopt environmental laws protecting Kern County residents."
"Nechodom exchanged emails with Oviatt in which he thanked Oviatt for her support. Nechodom noted that he was "delighted to have you and Kern Co. as a partner (unindicted co-conspirator?)." (Emphasis added.) Oviatt agreed with Nechodom in email: "We all have the same goal."
The plaintiffs allege that the defendants acted in concert with each other to further their fraudulent scheme. Each Defendant has participated in the operation and management of the Enterprise and has committed numerous acts to maintain and expand the Enterprise.
In sum, the lawsuit alleges that Defendants engaged in racketeering activity that included numerous acts indictable under 18 U.S.C. § 371 (conspiracy to defraud the United States); 18 U.S.C. §§ 241 (intimidation of any person engaged in free exercise of speech or any Constitutional right); 1341 (mail fraud), 1343 (wire fraud), 1346.43 (honest services), 1512 (b) (intimidating and threatening witnesses), and 1513(b) (intimidating and threatening witnesses). By violating these laws, rules, and regulations, the Oil Companies are causing unnecessary destruction of agriculture and farmland. The Oil Companies, moreover, are unnecessarily polluting the air, land, and water in Kern County.
