On Friday, February 28, 2014, the Los Angeles City Council approved a moratorium on “hydraulic fracturing, acidization, and
gravel packing” (a.k.a. fracking) within city limits on a unanimous
10-0 vote. The Council directed City Attorney Mike Feuer’s office
to draft a zoning ordinance banning fracking in L.A, and will hold
a final vote once the zoning ordinance has been drafted. So far, no
deadline has been set for the City Attorney to draft the ordinance.
Los Angeles Waterkeeper staff, volunteers, and members have
been concerned about the escalating use of hydraulic fracturing in
Los Angeles and adjacent cities. Instead of ensuring public safety
and environmental health by conducting peer-reviewed scientific
studies on the effects of the relatively new methods of hydraulic
fracturing, regulators have let oil companies proceed mostly unchecked. Oil producing companies are very, very, very excited
about the expected profits from combining hydraulic fracturing,
acidization, directional drilling, and more to produce oil
and gas that was previously
unrecoverable. Many companies stand to make a lot of
money by way of fracking,
with a few U.S. billionaires
already emerging from the use
of ‘fracking.’
By
Brian Meux
There is a dark side to this
recent U.S. oil boom that is
progressively being unveiled.
Scientists and agencies are
slowly uncovering the negative effects on public health,
environment health, property
values, and geological integrity
from increased seismic activity.
We don’t know all of the chemicals oil companies are exposing us
to when they frack in our neighborhoods yet, but we know enough
to know we don’t want them in our air or in our water. Hundreds of
chemicals are used in fracking, and of the ones we know, more than
75% can affect the sensory organs and respiratory system; 52% can
harm the nervous system; 40% can affect the immune system; and
25% can cause cancer.
Over a thousand instances of water contamination from fracking