The California Coastal Commission meeting at Long Beach City Hall had some company waiting for them outside last Tuesday: a group of anti-fracking demonstrators wearing hazmat suits, holding boogie boards and chanting slogans like, “Keep the oil in the soil.”
Fracking, a slang term for hydraulic fracturing, is a system of using prsessurized water, sand and other chemicals to fracture stretches of rock and facilitate the extraction of underlying oil and natural gasses.
According to the Center for Biological Diversity, four additional offshore wells in Long Beach Harbor were fracked in December, sparking the protests. In response, the Coastal Commission is looking into Senate Bill 1132, which could potentially ban fracking.
Some advocates of the method, like Cal State Long Beach geology professor Richard Behl, said that if carefully monitored, fracking will only lead to minor issues. As long as the practice is done correctly and avoids contamination, he said fracking could be economically and environmentally beneficial.
Additionally, Gov. Jerry Brown said he plans to enact environmental regulations to ensure that fracking does not have too great an effect on the environment, according to an article in the Huffington Post.
We feel that fracking ultimately does more harm than good. While we recognize that the energy needs of an industrialized economy are high, and fracking could create energy independence, it is just a short-term solution with serious long-term consequences.
Fracking not only accounts for the spreading of chemicals throughout the ocean rifts over a long period of time, but it also endangers marine life-forms, which may ingest these chemicals, according to the National Wildlife Federation.
California is a coastal state, and the chemical-filled water that is injected into the ground risks polluting ground water. Studies have shown that where there is fracking, there are higher levels of chemicals such as methane and other carcinogens in ground water, according to Forbes.
Considering that California is such a beautiful state, we feel that natural energy should be utilized to avert the damage of fracking. This includes, but is not limited to, options like solar power, wind, limited water consumption and driving less.
Since fracking is not the only solution to our unending demand for energy, a combination of renewable energy coupled with fracking is a possibility. This is a change that every individual can make in order to weaken the existing rationalization for fracking and, hopefully, eliminate fracking altogether.
Ultimately though, we would like to see California focus its efforts on long-term solutions. As other parts of the world continue to become more industrialized, demand for natural resources is increasing.
We would also like to mention that alternative energy does not have to be the only way to meet energy needs, conservation alone can be highly effective.
We feel that Long Beach should become a leading force to reduce fracking along California’s coast and hopefully one day, ban it.
Perhaps if Long Beach leads the way, other cities will fall in line and California will work towards keeping the frack off our coast.