(July 15, 2015, 4:35 a.m.) -- Opponents of hydraulic fracturing ("fracking"), a process that injects chemicals and other materials at high pressure into the earth to crack rocks and free up oil for extraction, urged the City Council on July 14 to stop plans to conduct the process on a number of sites, the first in state waters since 2013, in areas under City of Long Beach control on or near the oil islands off LB's shore.

After a rally and demonstration outside City Hall, the fracking foes sought to address the Council during the first period for public comment on non-agendized items...but learned that other speakers had signed up first (including some who held a rally at the same time outside City Hall to urge programs they believe can address violent crime [shootings and murders] in some parts of LB.) The fracking foes sat through the entire Council meeting -- roughly four and a half hours -- until after 9:30 p.m., when they used a second period for public comment on non-agendized items to be heard at the very end of the Council meeting.

In the public interest, LBREPORT.com makes their testimony more conspicuously available with quick-launch audio below.

[Scroll down for further.]

The City of Long Beach and the state of CA both derive revenue from oil extracted in offshore Long Beach. The state owns the tidelands; the City conducts specified activities in the tidelands as the state's trustee; the city hired a contractor to conduct the oil extraction...and the city-hired contractor sought and obtained state agency permit approval to conduct the upcoming fracking.

The CA Dept. of Conservation's Division of Oil, Gas & Geothermal Resources recently granted permits to the City-hired contractor to conduct fracking during a period between August and December...and the anti-fracking groups want LB Councilmembers (majority are Dems) to stop the fracking.

[Scroll down for further.]

Advertisement

Advertisement

The Center for Biological Diversity, Stop Fracking Long Beach and South Bay 350, and a number of local residents, acknowledge that fracking has been conducted for many years, but note that the latest series will take place just weeks after the Refugio oil spill near Santa Barbara.

Fracking opponents say the process risks an oil spill and can kill or harm marine life...and they cite a recent report by the CA Council on Science and Technology which concluded that there's inadequate information about more than half the chemicals used in fracking, including toxicity and risks to the environment and public health. To view the full report, click here.

To date, LB's Dem Mayor and Dem majority City Council have been silent on the statewide controversy with local aspects. Governor Brown has the Dem majority state legislature have likewise refused to enact a moratorium on fracking. Instead, state lawmakers enacted legislation (SB 4, took effect Jan. 2014) that requires disclosure of the types of chemicals used and created regulations governing fracking...but allows fracking to continue.

[Scroll down for further.]

Advertisement

Advertisement

The anti-fracking groups seek, in effect, to push the policy-setting City Council to take a public position opposed to fracking, backed by action to stop fracking conducted with the City's approval on property under the City's control.

To hear the anti-fracking groups' testimony to the City Council on July 14, click here.

Although the Council can't legally take voted action on non-agendized items, Councilmembers and the Mayor can (and on other items have occasionally made) short comments in response. Following the podium speakers, Mayor Garcia thanked the speakers and quickly swiftly moved to adjourn the Council meeting. Councilmembers (Price absent for entire meeting) said nothing in response to the speakers' comments.

Advertisement

Advertisement