By ALEXANDRIA BORDAS | Reporter
“How many of you have heard of fracking?”
Brenna Norton of Food and Water Watch posed this question when she made a presentation on the effects of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, at the Pacific Palisades Democratic Club (PPDC) meeting on Tuesday, June 23.
“Fracking is a method to extract natural gas from the earth by using millions of gallons of water laced with toxic chemicals at an extremely high pressure, high enough to break through steel,” Norton said.
The controversy surrounding fracking stems from the chemicals that are mixed in the water used to extract the gas as well as the effects drilling has on the earth, she said.
“We’re going 8-15 thousand feet into the earth and 1-2 miles horizontally – that type of drilling has been linked to earthquakes across the United States,” Norton said.
Chemicals are used to reduce friction in the pipes and to make the water more slippery so it can penetrate the shale to release the oil and gas.
Norton showed two documentary clips about fracking across neighborhoods in Los Angeles and said that fracking affects the climate, which is ultimately linked to the drought.
Norton emphasized that not only is California in a drought but now companies are using water infused with chemicals to extract natural gas.
“There is no such thing as safe fracking so this is something we really need to advocate for change,” Norton said. “It’s a topic that’s not going away and my hope is that we have meaningful legislation in this state to eventually phase fracking out.”
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