The Unsettling Progress of Fracking

Following my last post about the dangers of fracking (especially in a drought), I bring to you a more recent and troubling news report on fracking that unfortunately hits me right at home.

Earlier this year, the Federal Government signed off on permit revisions for the Company DCOR that allows this oil company to both begin off-shore fracking without any environmental impact analysis (apparently fracking is exempt from CEQA and NEPA) and to dump over nine billion gallons of fracking fluid into the Santa Barbara Channel each year.  

Stern's Warf and the Beautiful Santa Barbara Harbor. Panoramio

The Santa Barbara shoreline has always been naturally covered in tar due to the unique geology of the channel; crude oil and natural gas happen to be trapped beneath a sub-aquatic layer of rock that formed between the mainland and the Channel Islands. From the prehistoric times of the Chumash Native Americans, pitch that washed ashore was used by people for waterproofing baskets and tomol canoes. More recently, the Santa Barbara coast has become pockmarked by oil rigs, which have inspired art (Crystal Ship by the Doors), created an oil economy, and most importantly, started a revolution.

In 1969, an oil spill in the Santa Barbara Channel (which remains the biggest oil spill ever in California) resulted in devastating consequences for marine ecosystems in the Channel. The public outcry from this catastrophe was enough to spawn the first Earth Day the following year. This oil spill also resulted in the local University of California creating a new department of study, one that was mostly unheard of in other universities around the country: the Environmental Studies Program.

1969 Santa Barbara Channel Oil Spill from Platform A. Edible Communities

Both this annual holiday and new college program were centered on the ideal that we, as a species, could live more simply and be more aware of our impact on the planet and all of her resources. At UCSB, this flower-child philosophy has evolved over time to become a world-renowned and scientifically-backed program of study, from which this proud author recently graduated.

With all of this history being said, it deeply saddens and angers me that this injustice is happening once again right where the environmental movement began. As stated by the Farron Cousins, perhaps the public is not becoming enraged because this dumping of toxic sludge is no accident. Being a federally approved act of pollution, no one seems to mind.

A map of the Santa Barbara Channel and Oil Rigs (pink diamonds). Mission & State

DCOR and government officials have stated that any used fracking fluid will be sent on-land for processing and filtering before being taken back to the oil rig for dumping into the ocean. However, it is highly debateable whether any of these efforts taken to filter the fracking fluid will truly reduce its toxicity (see my previous post for more information on the dangers of fracking).

So what can we do to stop fracking and dumping alike? Support the Center for Biological Diversity in their February 2014 legal petition to the EPA to stop fracking or tell Governer Brown to stop fracking now.