海角大神

The federal government must stop approving all offshore oil fracking in California鈥檚 Santa Barbara Channel, according to a legal settlement filed Friday in US District Court in Los Angeles.聽

A lawsuit filed by the聽Center for Biological Diversity against the US Department of the Interior challenges the department鈥檚 practice of 鈥渞ubber-stamping fracking off California鈥檚 coast without engaging the public or analyzing fracking鈥檚 threats to ocean ecosystems, coastal communities and marine life鈥︹�� the environmental nonprofit says in a press release.聽

Under the settlement, the department鈥檚 Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement must cease approving fracking permits immediately and analyze the environmental dangers of offshore fracking by the end of May, as designated under the National Environmental Policy Act. All future permit applications must be publicly accessible and open to review.聽

This procedure is a far cry from the oil industry鈥檚 easy application process of the past. Kristen Monsell, an attorney at the Center of Biological Diversity who worked on the lawsuit, tells 海角大神 in a phone interview Monday the rubber-stamping was so apparent, that fracking permits were often approved the same day they were submitted.

鈥淥ffshore fracking is linked to oil spills, it increases the rate of earthquakes, and it is happening in the Santa Barbara Channel, an area with incredible biodiversity. It鈥檚 just unbelievable that they鈥檝e been authorizing this process without any analysis whatsoever,鈥� Ms. Monsell says. 鈥淔ederal law clearly requires our government to analyze these threats. They can鈥檛 just shrug off that obligation.鈥澛�

These industry-friendly permit practices have been in place for years, say environmental groups. But they were finally revealed when the Environmental Defense Center filed for permit details under the Freedom of Information Act.聽

鈥淭hese practices are currently being conducted under decades-old plans with out-of-date or nonexistent environmental analysis,鈥� Brian Segee, an attorney for the Environmental Defense Center, told the Associated Press.

The US Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management could not be reached immediately for comment.聽

Monsell doesn鈥檛 expect the Interior Department to return to business as usual once the environmental assessments are completed in May. When federal officials finally see the repercussions, they will have no choice but to stop offshore California fracking, she says.聽

鈥淲e think that the settlement is a huge victory for the California coastal environment鈥� It鈥檚 a huge victory for the oceans,鈥� Monsell adds. 鈥淲hen the federal government actually take a hard look at the impact of fracking, it will have to stop authorizing the practice all together.鈥澛�

The settlement pertains only to fracking in the Santa Barbara channel, but Monsell expects that it will send a national message.聽

鈥淲e think this analysis will lead to a permanent ban on the practice,鈥� she adds. 鈥淲hile the settlement agreement is specific to the Pacific outer-continental shelf, it is a total rebuke of the federal government鈥檚 hands-off policy.鈥�

A national debate continues over the pros and cons associated with fracking. Last year, the 聽Environmental Protection Agency seemed to indicate that it was safe:

But as聽海角大神 reported, the EPA report also included聽several ways聽in which "fracking could potentially contaminate drinking water, and said that in a number of cases, water was, in fact, affected. Though cases in which drinking water was impacted were small in number compared with the sample size of cases studied overall, the EPA said the proportion could be inaccurate, a result of insufficient data and other limitations to the study."

Some observers say halting offshore fracking permits doesn't have a major impact, because California hasn't produced much offshore oil lately.

But Monsell disagrees.

鈥淥il companies have fought tooth and nail against efforts to halt offshore fracking,鈥� says Monsell, so it鈥檚 clear they have a future need for it. And the environmental repercussions of offshore fracking 鈥� no matter how rare - can鈥檛 be overestimated, she adds.聽

EDC聽attorney Brian Segee told the Santa Barbara Independent that聽the settlement had been initially opposed by ExxonMobil and the American Petroleum Institute, whose attorneys argued that the additional permitting requirements could hamper their access to a resource for which the oil companies had already secured lease rights. Likewise, they argued that federal environmental law was far from explicit about such situations.