The controversial oil drilling practice known as fracking is as close as the four City Council candidates are going to come to a rallying issue this campaign season. With a month to go before the April 8 election, it can be reported the fellows are singing in sweet harmony, with nary a clunker note.
Before a sizable crowd in Council Chambers last evening, skewered toward students, it was mostly yawning time at the candidates forum co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters and the student-centric KidsAsk2Know. Incumbents Jim Clarke and Jeff Cooper, and challengers Gary Abrams and Christopher Patrick King cannot be faulted for the dryness of the program, and certainly witty Frances Talbott-White, mistress of ceremonies, remains a splendid entertainer.
It’s just that the four candidates hardly disagree about any subject, including fracking. They concur that hydraulic fracturing – the name for fracking when it outs on a tuxedo — packs potentially lethal consequences. They also agree that it should be kept in a lockbox, probably for years, until somebody figures out whether it truly is as harmless as a box of Mike & Ike’s.
Could It Be a Lollipop?
Fracking may be as innocent as an éclair, if not as tasty.
For calendar watchers, four or five years of life have slipped by since activists began labeling fracking “dangerous” and converted it into the sexy cause du jour.
Meantime, office seekers are grinding out miles of good-guy publicity for their campaigns when they patriotically stand up, put their digits over their hearts, and pledge their undying fealty to the community as long as this apparent threat hangs, like a drone, over residents.
Has anyone notice that activists have not produced any supporting evidence and deniers have not filed counter proofs.
Therefore, Mr. Clarke, Mr. Abrams, Mr. King and Mr. Cooper chewed on fracking like an all-day sucker, finding it impossible to swing at a fracking pitch and miss.
The evening’s opening question was, Given that Dallas and Los Angeles now have banned fracking, what extra mile would you walk to secure Culver City?
“The City Council has done a good job of protecting the community from the dangers of fracking,” Mr. King said. “The Council’s primary goal always is the health and safety of our residents. Culver City was sued by the oil companies, and we won. We need a local ordinance to protect our residents.”
Mr. Clarke said that Culver City was first in the state to appeal to Gov. Brown to demand a moratorium until proof emerges – if it ever does.
Mr. Cooper, the rotating mayor until next month, said the smartest strategy for Culver City would be to rely on the County.
Mr. Abrams, the master of succinctness, pointed out that only 10 percent of the Baldwin Hills Oil Field reposes in Culver City, the other 90 percent in the County. Then he halted.
And so it went.
(To be continued)
