California Drillin’

Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing is a method of extracting hard-to-reach gas and oil by pummelling rocks deep underground with high-pressure water-chemicals. Recently, the method it has been criticised because some say it can cause ground-water and air pollution.

Oil industry executives have said that fracking is a safe method that has been used for many decades. However critics say they are worried about the dangers of groundwater contamination, air pollution and the possibility the fracking can trigger small earthquakes.

The problem with fracking is that the liquid being pumped down to crack the rocks has the potential to contaminate nearby ground water. This is a great concern for local landowners.

"Once the water gets contaminated it's not easy to reverse that and if we don't have water there's no reason to have land," said ranch owner Steve Lyons.

"We just last week tested the water from our wells for chemicals but one of the problems is we don't know what to test for."

This is due to the fact the fracking uses various chemicals in the process.

Venoco, the company who is performing the fracking method in Los Alamos, said: “Due to proprietary trade secrets employed in order to maintain competitive advantage, the actual quantities [of chemicals] added are confidential.”

The outcry of landowners and local politicians has stirred a debate over potential legislative measures that could be taken to reduce fracking in certain areas. Local and state officials are also calling for better transparency on companies’ fracking plans. For many local politicians the main issue is secrecy and lack of information from the oil companies.

Chris Wrather, chairman of the Los Alamos Planning Advisory Committee, said he was concerned that companies were drilling through the local aquifer and “using the fracking technique with little oversight.”

Kevin Barnard of Los Alamos Community Services District wrote a letter to the US State Department urging them to reveal plans and safety measures. “I would think that would be public information, yet nobody seems to be able to provide me with it.”

Senator Fran Pavley said: “I was surprised and actually shocked that they’re not able to answer any of those questions including the amount of water used, impacts on water quality, the chemicals used, as well as where fracking is occurring,”

The issue will be discussed today at the Los Alamos Board of Supervisors’ meeting. In the meeting, a county official said: “Venoco needs to be able to provide assurances that its efforts to extract oil aren’t destroying ground-water sources that will be needed in the future.”

Image: wollombi | Flickr