EDC Releases Offshore Fracking Report
Identifies 15 Known Occurrences, With More Pending Approval
A report released this week by the Environmental Defense Center — and paid for by an anonymous donor — raises further alarm about hydraulic fracturing from the offshore oil rigs in the Santa Barbara Channel, where at least 15 “fracks” have been identified over the past 20 years, including four approved this year alone.
Essentially a summary of the recent data released by the federal government following Freedom of Information Act requests from the EDC and media outlets to learn more about offshore fracking — a process where additional water and chemicals are pumped into the ground to better extract resources or maintain wells — the 32-page report begins by reminding that the Deepwater Horizon spill happened after a series of exemptions and shortcuts were allowed by regulators and reveals that, in the channel, the majority of fracks have occurred off of Platforms Gail (the closest to Anacapa Island) and Gilda, which the EDC claims has a “history of spills.”
The report recommends an immediate moratorium on offshore fracking, a prohibition on exemptions that allow it to occur without additional review, and a full scale environmental study that takes into account existing state and federal laws related to water quality and endangered species.
