Special Investigation: Fracking in the Ocean Off California Coast (What could possibly go wrong?)..

[Indi Guy]

[font size="4"]T[/font]he Pacific Ocean may be the next frontier for fracking technology. A Truthout investigation has confirmed that federal regulators approved at least two hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," operations on oil rigs in the Santa Barbara Channel off the coast of California since 2009 without an updated environmental review that critics say may be required by federal law...

...Oil drilling remains controversial in Santa Barbara, where the memory of the nation's third-largest oil spill lingers in the minds of the public. In 1969, the nation watched as thick layer of oil spread across the channel and its beaches following a blowout on an oil rig, killing thousands of marine birds other wildlife. The dramatic images helped spark the modern environmental movement and establish landmark federal environmental laws that eco-groups continue to challenge the government to enforce.

In 2012, Truthout reported that an oil company called Venoco had quietly used fracking technology to stimulate oil production in an old well off the coast of Santa Barbara in early 2010. A Freedom of Information Act request recently filed by Truthout has confirmed the Venoco operation and revealed that another firm had since received permission for fracking in the Santa Barbara channel, which is home to the Channel Islands marine reserve.

This year, federal regulators approved an application by the Ventura-based company DCOR LLC to use fracking technology known as "frack pack" in a sandstone well 1,500 feet from a seismic fault in the outer continental shelf off the California coast, according to the documents released by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), the federal agency that permits offshore drilling...

more -- http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/17765-special-investigation-fracking-in-the-ocean-off-the-california-coast

[PDJane]

1. OK, these men and women are either crazy or suicidal.

Now, that's bad enough, but they seem determined to take the rest of the world with them.

[Indi Guy]

3. And how corrupt must the government be...

...that approves these practices?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. Oh, fer crissake!

They just never give up, do they? They just keep at it, like the Energizer Bunny.

*sigh*

[Indi Guy]

5. That's why we need to keep exposing what they're up to...

...and to keep our opposition alive and "kicking"..

[Safetykitten]

4. I smell a marriage between the Fuki deniers and the Frackers! The Fukifrackers.

[Indi Guy]

14. Inevitably..

...the deniers are protecting personal interests of some sort.

[whttevrr]

6. What could possibly go worng with injecting chemicals into the sea bed...

Next to a fault...



By the way... Are there any water companies with cheap stock?

I think clean water will be the next boom.

[Safetykitten]

7. You see, it is completely safe, every issue has been accounted for. Let the fracking begin!

[Indi Guy]

15. Precisely...

It's always wise to believe and trust in the integrity and competence of big oil & gas. Track record -- schmack record.

[shanti]

8. Bush Sr

Already has that covered...check out his aquifer purchase in Paraguay.

[whttevrr]

9. Wait...

Wasn't there a movie about a village that was poisoned because a water plant filtration thing messed... and then to fix the problem they killed everyone who survived?

[whttevrr]

10. Oops... my bad

I was thinking of "A Dark Truth".

That's Ecuador not Paraguay.

Nevermind...

[Indi Guy]

12. USGS Study Connects Earthquake Risk To Wastewater Injection, Fracking Advocates Say, "Who Cares?"...

A new study out in Science by US Geological Survey scientist William Ellsworth links earthquakes to wastewater injection sites. These earthquakes, thought to be caused by pressure changes due to excess fluid injected deep below the surface, are being dubbed "man-made" earthquakes.

It's not the first time scientists have used that moniker, as earthquakes have been associated with other industrial operations that mess with underground formations such as surface and underground mining or dams that impound water into reservoirs.

Yet, in more recent years, we're seeing more and more of them,

"The number of earthquakes has increased dramatically over the past few years within the central and eastern United States. More than 300 earthquakes above a magnitude 3.0 occurred in the three years from 2010-2012, compared with an average rate of 21 events per year observed from 1967-2000."...

http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/07/19/usgs-study-connects-earthquake-risk-wastewater-injection-fracking-advocates-say-who-cares

[Maven]

11. Flashback: In State of the Union Address, Obama says he will push forward with fracking

In his State of the Union address Tuesday night, Obama spoke optimistically about the bounty of unconventional natural gas under the eastern United States. “We have a supply of natural gas that can last America nearly 100 years,” Obama said, “and my administration will take every possible action to safely develop this energy.”

This is good news, pretty much no matter where you land on the political spectrum {MAVEN: Yeah, unless you live near a fault line or care about drinking clean water. Moron.}. Burning natural gas produces a lot less air pollution than burning coal — and half the carbon emissions. It’s also cheap. Which means that fuel switching is economically attractive, it would immediately better Americans’ health, and it would give renewables and new nuclear time to catch up in the fight against global warming.

But environmentalists, who should want responsible natural gas development, have attacked the process by which energy companies obtain this unconventional natural gas. They say that hydraulic fracturing — better known as fracking — might taint drinking water or even cause earthquakes. Many want a moratorium.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/in-state-of-the-union-address-obama-says-he-will-push-forward-with-fracking/2012/01/24/gIQAxvt7OQ_blog.html

[Indi Guy]

13. 'U.S. Will Begin Exporting Its “Fracked” Gas'...

American drillers have done so well with the controversial method of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to reach underground stores of natural gas that they now have too much on their hands and want to export some of it abroad. But such a move could result in higher gas prices in the U.S., as well as even more fracking operations that can endanger the environment...

http://www.allgov.com/news/top-stories/us-will-begin-exporting-its-fracked-gas-130717?news=850587

The greedy big energy companies have no intention of solving America's energy situation. They protect only their profit margin, at the very expense of America's economy and ecology.