[Editor’s Note: The writer is a community leader in the anti-fracking movement.]
The Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees has unanimously passed a resolution supporting a moratorium on fracking, and this is an important achievement.
Every step toward a ban or moratorium on fracking in California gives hope that our government will finally protect the health and safety of all.
Here is the press release from the Board of Trustees:
The Board of Trustees of the Los Angeles Community College District has unanimously approved a resolution in support of a moratorium on fracking.
Of specific concern is the Inglewood Oil Field, located in a heavily populated area adjacent to West Los Angeles College in Culver City.
“I am so proud that our district continues to set trends in protecting the environment,” said Mona Field, who, along with fellow trustee Nancy Pearlman, presented the resolution at Wednesday’s meeting. “I hope that, just as our green building initiative has been widely imitated, others will now follow our lead in seeking a moratorium on the dangerous practice of fracking.”
“Studies have shown that fracking is unacceptable for humans and the environment,” said Ms. Pearlman. “Alternatives must be found that are ecological and safe.”
Hydraulic fracturing, the formal term for fracking, is a controversial technique used to increase the amount of oil or natural gas extracted from the ground by injecting pressurized chemical additives in order to create fractures in subsurface rock or other tight geological formations.
There is evidence this process has resulted in unintended consequences. The United States Environmental Protection Agency has linked contaminated ground water in Pavillion, WY to fracking. The U.S. Geological Survey supports the assertion that fracking can cause microearthquakes, a frightening possibility in an area like Southern California, situated above deep fault lines.
The West Los Angeles College Work Environment Committee has already passed a resolution asking for air testing on its campus to determine the effects of fracking.
In passing this resolution, the Board of Trustees joins the City Council in Culver City and the Culver City Unified School District in urging Gov. Brown, the state Legislature and DOGGR, the state’s Dept. of Conservation/Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources, to institute a moratorium on fracking and the disposal of fracking wastewater pending further studies of the practice and the establishment of strict regulations.
Ms. Rona Tuttle may be contacted at rebecca.rona@hotmail.com
