Fracking may create oil boom in California

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Dec 20, 2012

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Fracking may create oil boom in California

California...it's the Golden State, it's one of the greenest states, and, before you know it, it'll be the oil state.Because of hydraulic fracking, California might actually be producing more oil than Texas in the next decade.

Protestors hold signs against fracking during a demonstration outside of the California Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) headquarters on July 25, 2012 in Sacramento, California. Dozens of environmental activists staged a "Stop Fracking With California" demonstration outside the California EPA headquarters ahead of public workshop hosted by the Division of Oil Gas and Geothermal Resources where protestors are planning to voice their opposition to the rushed regulatory of fracking and the many threats to the environment imposed by the process of hydraulic fracking for oil and gas.

California...it's the Golden State, it's one of the greenest states, and, before you know it, it'll be the oil state.Because of hydraulic fracking, California might actually be producing more oil than Texas in the next decade.

California...it's the Golden State, it's one of the greenest states, and, before you know it, it'll be the oil state.

Because of hydraulic fracking, California might actually be producing more oil than Texas in the next decade. But is fracking a panacea or an environmental threat? And how will it affect overall U.S. oil production?

Amy Myers Jaffe executive director for energy and sustainability at UC Davis.