Climate Scientists Urge Halt to California Fracking
SACRAMENTO, California, November 13, 2013 (ENS) – Twenty leading climate experts today called on Governor Jerry Brown to impose an immediate moratorium on fracking in California. In a letter delivered this morning, the experts say fracking and other extreme oil and gas extraction techniques disrupt the climate and harm California’s efforts to be a leader in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Fracking uses pressurized water mixed with sand and chemicals to blast open rock formations, releasing oil and gas. Drilling and fracking have been tied to air pollution and water contamination across America. Studies link underground disposal of fracking wastewater with increased earthquake risk. A June 2013 poll conducted by the University of Southern California and the Los Angeles Times found that 58 percent of Californians want a fracking moratorium in the state. Experts who signed the letter include: retired NASA climate scientist James Hansen of Columbia University, Michael Mann of Penn State University, Michael MacCracken of the Climate Institute, Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution for Science and Anthony Ingraffea of Cornell University. Senate Bill 4, which Brown recently signed into law, would allow fracking to continue without what the experts consider sufficient safeguards for California’s air, water, and climate, “Allowing fracking in California threatens to undermine Governor Brown’s own crucial efforts to fight climate disruption,” said Professor Paul Ehrlich of Stanford University, who signed the letter. “I respect the governor’s work on climate issues, but he should acknowledge the danger fracking pollution poses to his legacy as a leader in the battle to head off a climate crisis.” The letter, which was organized by the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity, notes that much of the oil currently extracted in California is as carbon intensive as the Canadian tar sands, one of the most climate-disrupting fuels on Earth. “The destructive climate impacts of fracking California for billions of barrels of dirty oil should be more than enough reason for Gov. Brown to halt fracking,” said Shaye Wolf, climate science director of the Center for Biological Diversity, who signed the letter. At least 1,200 California oil and gas wells have been fracked in the past three years without scientific review, and oil companies now are targeting the Monterey Shale. In contrast to California’s policy of green-lighting fracking, the federal Bureau of Land Management has not held any oil and gas lease sales on California public lands since launching an independent scientific study of fracking statewide. Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2013. All rights reserved. |