Local environmentalists tell feds, 'Don't frack our future,' at Camarillo protest

The word "frack"—a shorthand phrase for hydraulic fracturing—lends itself well to puns on picket signs.

Opponents of the controversial oil extraction process have no problem taking advantage of this, as they did last week at a protest outside the Pacific office for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). More than 80 people demonstrated at the Camarillo office, demanding the agency deny an oil company's application to frack in federal waters in the Santa Barbara Channel.

click to enlarge Local environmentalists tell feds, 'Don't frack our future,' at Camarillo protest
PHOTO COURTESY OF DREW BIRD
CALL TO BAN: Gov. Jerry Brown has asked President Barack Obama to permanently end new offshore oil drilling, while President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to expand it.

That oil company, DCOR, is the first to submit an application to frack in the channel since federal agencies lifted a moratorium on the practice in May of this year. Following DCOR's application, the Environmental Protection Agency released a report stating that fracking could contaminate drinking water, and Gov. Jerry Brown asked President Barack Obama to ban all new offshore oil and gas drilling before he leaves office.

On Dec. 15, protesters gathered with one response to DCOR's proposed drilling project: "Frack off."

Kristen Monsell, staff attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, said the protest demonstrated exactly how Californians feel about offshore fracking.

"Californians at all levels of government and people who live here and call this beautiful state our home don't want new drilling in our oceans," Monsell told the Sun. "It's an incredibly dangerous practice that has a history of enacting incredible environmental destruction to our coastal environment. We need to get this old decaying infrastructure out of our coastal areas, not expand it."

Environmental groups have been frustrated for years about getting federal research to recognize that fracking is, in fact, "dangerous." Back in January, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Environmental Defense Center settled a case against BOEM and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), requiring the agencies to evaluate the impacts of fracking on water quality, air quality, and endangered species in the Santa Barbara Channel.

At the time, the Environmental Defense Center's senior attorney Brian Segee told the Sun the settlement would provide "a long overdue glimpse into the impact of fracking," and it placed a moratorium on any new offshore drilling permits until the environmental review was complete.

But when the agencies put out their report, the result wasn't what environmentalists were looking for: It concluded that offshore well stimulation treatments don't significantly impact environments in the Santa Barbara Channel's federal waters.

"It defies common sense," Segee said of the report. While the extent and scope of the impacts were debatable, he said, to conclude no environmental impact was "simply not credible."

click to enlarge Local environmentalists tell feds, 'Don't frack our future,' at Camarillo protest
PHOTO COURTESY OF DREW BIRD
FRACK OFF: More than 80 protesters gathered at the Pacific office for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on Dec. 15 to protest an oil company’s recent application to frack in the Santa Barbara Channel.

That's because oil companies that frack in federal waters sometimes discharge the waste fluid back into the ocean. They're permitted to dump up to 9 billion gallons of untreated wastewater, without having to monitor or disclose what fracking chemicals are included in it.

"It's this toxic soup of a variety of different chemicals," Monsell said. "Scientists have said the chemicals oil companies are using are among the most toxic in the entire world with respect to aquatic life. The Santa Barbara Channel is home to an amazing array of marine life, many of whom are already in peril and can't take the deluge of fracking fluids that the government permits."

Yet, the federal report spotted no significant impact, lifting the temporary ban on new offshore drilling permits and opening the door for DCOR to submit its recent application. The company has requested to frack for a 30-day period starting on Sept. 1, 2017, and as of press time BSEE had not announced a decision on the application.

State Attorney General Kamala Harris joined the fight against DCOR's application on Dec. 19, when she and the California Coastal Commission filed a lawsuit against federal agencies, challenging the findings in BOEM's and BSEE's environmental review. The suit claims that the agncies violated the National Environmental Policy Act "by relying on unfounded assumptions rather than taking a 'hard look' at the potential environmental impact."

In a previous interview with the Sun, Rick Yard, regional supervisor of BOEM's Pacific Region Office of the Environment, defended the agency's environmental review. He said the Environmental Protection Agency does regulate fracking discharges, and the process uses low enough pressure and chemical concentrations to keep from disturbing the environment.

"In the context of the ocean, there's a lot of water diluting any of those charges," he said. "The analysis would show, and some studies that show, that there is no kind of major impact related to discharges of any fluids from the platform."

With a Donald Trump administration on the horizon, the practice may continue to grow, since the president-elect has vowed to expand it.

Monsell said she is hopeful that Obama will heed the governor's call to end offshore drilling, but meanwhile, if the agencies in charge green-light DCOR's application, the center may file litigation against them.

"We just don't think offshore fracking could ever be compatible with the agencies' duties under federal law," she said. "We'll be fighting tooth and nail to prevent the agency from authorizing this permit or any future permits." 

Staff Writer Brenna Swanston can be reached at [email protected].

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