New research contradicts safe fracking findings

January 17, 2013 | By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

In 2012, Plains Exploration & Production (PXP) Company contended that research (funded by PXP) showed that their oil recovery operations, including hydraulic fracturing (fracking), in the Los Angeles Inglewood oil field had no known adverse public effects. But new research contradicts these findings.

Stanford University civil engineer Richard L. Meehan contends that PXP's activities in the Inglewood oilfield have resulted in reactivation of geologic faulting, affecting residential property and two elementary schools. Further, hydraulic fracturing for hydrocarbon recovery can be hazardous in relatively shallow geologic environments with faults and earthquakes as commonly found in California, according to Meehan.

The PXP research considers only immediate impacts, contends Food & Water Watch. Potential long-term risks due to cumulative effects like those related to seismic activity or simply the inevitability of accidents and spills over time, are either ignored or imprudently dismissed, Food & Water Watch says in a report.

Other experts have connected fracking to earthquakes and groundwater contamination in California and conclude that the practice of hydraulic fracturing could negatively impact the state's agriculture and wine industries.

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http://www.fierceenergy.com/story/new-research-contradicts-safe-fracking-findings/2013-01-17