PXP is releasing their new “test frack” study online on Wednesday at (http://www.inglewoodoilfield.com/), ahead of next Monday’s PXP/Baldwin Hills Standards annual meeting where they will discuss the results.
(This will take place at 6:30 at Knox Presbyterian Church, 5840 La Tijera Blvd, Ladera Heights. Fracking will impact the lives of everyone on the Westside. All concerned citizens are encouraged to attend.)
So PXP has done two test fracks – their own industry figures say 6 percent of all fracked wells fail (leak) in the first year.
And 50 percent of wells have failed after 30 years.
They don't know how to make the concrete casings stronger.
• Leaking vast quantities of carcinogenic chemicals into the environment.
• Consuming two to eight million gallons of scarce fresh water, to which they add 40,000 gallons of toxic chemicals per frack. Each well can be fracked 12 to 18 times. And 50-70 percent of that brew comes back up, along with radioactive substances and arsenic, to be stored on site. Forever.
Now the U.S. Geological Survey has determined that fracking has triggered a growing number of earthquakes in central states where there is no history of seismic activity. (Bloomberg: Fracking-Linked Earthquakes Spurring State Regulations, April 20, 2012).
The Baldwin Hills Oil Field sits atop the Newport-Inglewood fault, which is actually a 47-mile long network of faults. The U.S. Geological Survey says there is a 95 percent chance of a 7.4 earthquake. This will impact the whole Westside.
Regardless, PXP will “prove” that this new complex technology is a safe process that will cause no harm to the 300,000 citizens who reside within a five-mile radius of the oil field.
PXP also has two tried and true oil industry “peer reviewers” to support their case. This company has experience funding biased studies: Frackers Fund University Research That Proves Their Case (Bloomberg, July 23, 2012).
PXP likes to say that fracking has been done at our oil field since the 1960s, as if that proves it is safe today.
But the fact is, Halliburton, in the early 2000s, developed a new, more sophisticated technology that is far more dangerous.
However, the sophisticated technology of horizontal hydraulic fracking was developed by Halliburton in the early 2000s. It never has been used before in a highly populated area. A Cornell University study (2012) reports that fracking has sickened and killed animals and humans in rural Colorado, Louisiana, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.
Health risks derive from air pollution, ground and drinking water pollution. Unfortunately, our government is not immune to huge money; there are no regulations on fracking in the state of California.
Residents on the downwind side of the Baldwin Hills Oil Field, where PXP has been working for several years, already have elevated rates of respiratory diseases and cancer. They have also sustained vibration damage to their homes from the drilling.
So what is a 6 percent failure rate in the first year for two fracks? And 50 percent failure rate in 30 years?
PXP plans to frack 500 wells in the Baldwin Hills.
Remember, each can be fracked 12 to18 times.
Thus far, the oil company has benefited from the public's ignorance regarding this grave threat.
This is to encourage concerned citizens to attend Monday evening’s meeting.
J.E. Brockman may be contacted at JEB.7799@gmail.com
