Cross Posted from Southern California Public Radio
Opponents of a controversial method of extracting oil and gas will deliver petitions to lawmakers around California on Thursday urging them to limit or ban the controversial practice.
Groups against fracking say the method could damage groundwater supplies and harm unspoiled habitat for native animals like the kit fox.
Organizers say around 70 groups are involved in the coordinated effort. One of the largest, MoveOn.org, plans to deliver petitions to a dozen assembly members asking for limits on the oil extraction method. The group is also organizing protests in Sacramento, San Jose, San Diego, San Ramon, and Los Altos, among other places.
Food and Water Watch and the Center for Biological Diversity are planning similar marches in San Francisco and here in Los Angeles. Documentary filmmaker Josh Fox, who directed “Gasland,” will join activists as they protest outside Governor Brown’s Los Angeles office on Spring Street.
THE SKY IS PINK by Josh Fox and the GASLAND Team from JFOX on Vimeo.
The federal government estimates that as much as 15 million barrels of oil and gas are trapped in a rock formation that sprawls across southern and central California called the Monterey Shale. Petroleum companies say breaking open that rock will unleash an economic boom, including fuel, jobs and tax revenue.