Second in a series.
Re: “Carson Bans Fracking, Then Kind of Lifts Ban”
One of the extraordinary fracking accomplishments in recent years is that the disputed oil drilling method has generated far more talk than oil production.
For all of the outrage that environmentalists have stirred nationwide about fracking, instances of banning appear fairly isolated.
Judging by a noise factor, there are more fracking opponents than advocates in Culver City.
However, fracking is legal here, has been for the decade or so that the City Council has been talking about a fracking policy.
“The Council’s Oil Drilling subcommittee is working on the revised oil drilling ordinance,” says former Councilman Andy Weissman. “They will come up with proposed regulations for fracking that will require expensive testing and monitoring to assure public health and safety.”
Meanwhile, fracking is permitted in the centerpiece of this extremely lengthy, fractious debate, the Inglewood Oil Field.
Fracking is allowed in the 10 percent of the Oil Field that is inside Culver City and the 90 percent controlled by Los Angeles County.
Reaching for a finer point, Mr. Weissman, an attorney, says:
“It always depends on what you call fracking.
“The fracking people are most concerned about is high-volume hydraulic (horizontal) fracking, which doesn’t go on here because the geology doesn’t lend itself to that. The concern is the fluid that they pump down can contaminate groundwater and things of that nature.
“That,” Mr. Weissman said, “is the direction the regulations are likely to go in. But there will be opposition – because the new regulations go too far or not far enough.”
