Commentary: Culver City Needs to Ban Fracking

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The following commentary was submitted by Culver City resident Rebecca Rona Tuttle.

Culver City needs to ban fracking, plain and simple. That’s what I will tell our City Council this coming Mon. July 2, at 7 p.m., when the issue of fracking is addressed at the

The public has already spoken. Our residents have told us they’re terribly worried about . 

Fracking, the common term for hydraulic fracturing, is a highly controversial process in which a mixture of water, sand and chemicals is injected under enormous pressure into the earth for the ultimate purpose of extracting natural gas and oil. The pressure causes shale rock formations to fracture, releasing the substances. Fracking in and near Culver City would put us in great jeopardy: earthquakes, toxic air, polluted aquifers--you name it!

It’s clear that Mayor Andy Weissman and the other city council members are troubled by the prospect of fracking. They’ve given the impression that what interests them is a moratorium on fracking.

But I say no to a moratorium. We need a ban. Those who favor only a moratorium suggest, “Let’s have a moratorium until regulations have been put in place.” Or, “Let’s have a moratorium until the state proves that fracking actually is safe.”

But regulations will never be enough, especially when The Divison of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources – the regulatory agency - is so understaffed that it couldn’t possibly assess whether PXP and the other oil companies were complying. More than that, regulations would give us a false sense of security. Yet how could fracking possibly be safe? 

Furthermore, we need to think beyond our city, at the very least to the county and the state. We are not an island. If fracking in Long Beach causes an earthquake, we’ll be affected too. If fracking is allowed in Los Angeles, our drinking water will become polluted too. Furthermore,

I hope many of my fellow Culver City residents will join us in council chambers and speak out. And those who are camera shy can come to give the rest of us moral support.

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