Industry-Funded Study Finds Fracking Safe for Los Angeles

Industry-Funded Study Finds Fracking Safe for Los Angeles by Jim Efstathiou Jr., October 11, 2012, Bloomberg News
Fracking for oil in Los Angeles County poses no threat to the environment and doesn’t add to the risk of earthquakes, according to a report funded by the owner of one of the largest urban oil fields in the U.S. The findings come from a year long study by Plains Exploration & Production Co. (PXP), owner of the Inglewood oil field in the Baldwin Hills section of Los Angeles. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, of two test wells revealed no threat to groundwater, air quality or added risk of induced seismic activity, according to the report released yesterday. The study comes weeks before the California Department of Conservation is to release draft rules for fracking, in which millions of gallons of chemically treated water and sand are forced underground to shatter rock and release trapped oil or natural gas. California has generic rules for oil and gas drilling but no specific rules for fracking, which has been linked to water contamination and air pollution in other states. … California regulators have asked drillers to voluntarily disclose when fracking is used to complete oil or gas wells, according to Don Drysdale, a spokesman for the Department of Conservation.

[Refer also to: Ground Rupture in the Baldwin Hills

Environmental hazards of urban oilfield operations

Methane dangers in Los Angeles linked to waste disposal in old oilfields ]

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