“Nothing here, Sherlock,” said Dr. Watson. “What do you have?”
“Empty, too,” said the diva of Victorian detectives.
Was it bad news for anti-fracking activists and vindication for fracking advocates last Friday morning when the latest study on the potential perils of fracking found none?
Or not?
To some, however, the truncated study by the presumably non-partisan research group, the California Council on Science and Technology, smelled gassy. Leaders of the study group said they had to perform too fast, that they were given little time or information as foundational tools.
Hence, Mayor Meghan Sahli-Wells, a staunch opponent of fracking, hardly was feeling repudiated.
She found the “old research story” of too little money, too little time to be a “distressing pattern. In my opinion, this is unconscionable.”
Ardently opposed to the controversial oil drilling technique, she said that “I read more than the headline in the Times’s story. This feels like deja vu all over again for this reason:
“The scientists themselves said they had neither the time nor the resources – i.e., money – to do a thorough study that had conclusive findings. That was stated and restated several times.
“This,” said Ms. Sahli-Wells, “is what happened with the fracking study in the Inglewood Oil Field as well. The people from the L.A. County Dept. of Health who conducted the study said that ‘we didn’t have the time or the resources to conduct a thorough study.’
“At the end of the day, the headline said, ‘Hey, No Problems Found.’
“The fact is,” said the mayor, “the people who did the study said they should study the issue more. They said they needed more money and more time to do their research.”
Saltily, Councilman Andy Weissman said he hoped the state “did not spend much money on the study because they reached their conclusions based on limited to no data.”
Councilman Jeff Cooper, who shares Ms. Sahli-Wells’s concerns, told the newspaper the outcome of the “research” was “no surprise.
“The study was really quite porous in that it lacked any depth.
“Now,” Mr. Cooper said sadly, “this allows the feds to continue leasing public land .
“Quite frankly, once again the big money that oil companies pour into the campaigns of state and federal electeds has reaped them the answers and justification to once again poison our lands.
“As a local elected, I will continue to vigorously fight this dangerous practice. I will work extra hard to keep fracking from happening in or around Culver City.”
