Offshore...Fracking: Far More Common Than Previously Known

[xchrom]

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/08/03


Dead fish stuck in oil in Bay Jimmy near Port Sulpher, Louisiana June 20, 2010 (Reuters/Sean Gardner)

Hundreds of pages of federal documents released by the U.S. government to the Associated Press this week show that the controversial and toxic practice of hydraulic fracturing has moved offshore to an extent far greater than previously known.

The documents, obtained by the AP through a Freedom of Information Act request, show that the EPA has permitted fracking in the Pacific Ocean at least 12 times since the late 1990s, and has recently approved a new project in "the vast oil fields in the Santa Barbara Channel," which is also the site of a major 1969 spill of over 3 million gallons of crude oil into the ocean.

"While debate has raged over fracking on land, prompting efforts to ban or severely restrict it," AP writes, "offshore fracking has occurred with little attention in sensitive coastal waters where for decades new oil leases have been prohibited."

Fracking—the process of pumping hundreds of thousands of gallons of salt water, sand and toxic chemicals into shale and sand formations—is most commonly referred to as a process of natural gas extraction and has come under fire from a growing anti-fracking movement for its well documented water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

[gtar100]

1. They take the oil and leave the cleanup for who?

This from the most profitable industry on earth. But only because they do not take responsibility for the messes they make or for even attempting to engineer processes that can do the work in a clean, nontoxic manner. They don't even try.