San Gabriel Valley Tribune, March 21, 2013

Letters to the Editor: Fracking-boom Study Paid for by Oil Industry
By Kassie Siegel

Thanks for pointing out that the new University of Southern California study purporting to show economic benefits from a California oil fracking boom was actually funded by the oil industry ("With California fracking, we'll be watching," editorial, March 16).

I'd also note that the study's principal investigator is president of an oil industry consulting firm.

This highly speculative study considered only the potential benefits of a California oil fracking boom and excluded any meaningful consideration of the costs.

But as geologist David Hughes has pointed out, there's good reason for skepticism about the future of shale oil wells, which typically suffer rapidly diminishing production and have major environmental impacts.

A fracking boom in North Dakota, for example, has led to thousands of accidental releases of oil, wastewater and other fluids, and heavy truck traffic associated with fracking has caused extensive damage to state roads.

Fracking has also been associated with water pollution, and Colorado School of Public Health researchers recently found that fracking contributes to asthma and other health problems in people living near fracked wells.

Fracking poses grave threats to our state's environment, public health, agricultural industry and infrastructure.

To protect our health and our future, this inherently dangerous practice should be banned in California.

- Kassie Siegel, Climate Law Institute, Center for Biological Diversity, Joshua Tree

© 2013 Paddock Publications, Inc. 

This article originally appeared here.