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Why Environmentalists Hate California's First Law Regulating Fracking
"Monterey shale is exposed in sea cliffs above the Pacific on approach to Santa Barbara. The brown dirt on top is an old marine terrace." (Photo by dsearls via the Creative Commons on Flickr)
Governor Jerry Brown signed California's first law regulating the controversial practices of fracking and acidizing.
Oil companies aren't happy with the law that goes into effect January 1, 2014 but neither are environmentalists who say that the bill is too watered-down to do much good. The issue has come to a head in California now that oil companies have their eye on a massively lucrative project: the Monterey Shale deposits contain an estimated 15 billion barrels of oil. The governor supports the project.
Until now, most fracking and acidizing projects in California were much smaller in scale, although some investigations hint that many smaller projects have been going on without the public's knowledge. Several off-shore fracking were happening off the coast of Santa Barbara, but this wasn't public knowledge until very recently. And oil companies have already begun fracking closer to home in the Inglewood Oil Fields.
Fracking has been controversial, because of concerns that chemicals from the process are poisoning drinking water and even cause earthquake swarms. The process of acidizing, which is expected to be more effective on the Monterey Shale, has flown under the radar.
Here are a few facts about California's new law:
Related:
Los Angeles Considers A Ban On Fracking
Legislators Are Freaking Out About Oil Companies' Offshore Fracking: 'We Are In The Dark'
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