Center for Biological Diversity


Media Advisory, May 23, 2016

Contact: Patrick Sullivan, (415) 517-9364, psullivan@biologicaldiversity.org

Californians to Protest Offshore Fracking at Federal Offices in Camarillo

Tuesday Rally Targets Proposal to Let Oil Companies Resume Fracking in Santa Barbara Channel

CAMARILLO, Calif.— Conservationists and coastal residents will rally Tuesday morning outside the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management office in Camarillo to protest a federal proposal to let oil companies resume offshore fracking in the wildlife-rich Santa Barbara Channel.

The protest — organized by the Center for Biological Diversity, Food & Water Watch, and the Sierra Club Los Padres Chapter — will urge the federal government to maintain a moratorium on offshore fracking and acidizing that’s been in place since January.

Regulators recently released a draft proposal to lift that moratorium and allow oil companies to resume dumping fracking chemicals mixed with wastewater into the ocean. But prominent scientists, Rep. Lois Capps, and other members of Congress and state officials have urged the federal government to continue prohibiting fracking off the California coast.

What:  Rally against offshore fracking on the California coast.
   
When: Tuesday, May 24, at 11 a.m.
   
Where: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management office, 760 Paseo Camarillo, Camarillo.
   
Who: California residents and members of the Center for Biological Diversity, Food & Water Watch, and the Sierra Club Los Padres Chapter.

Offshore fracking blasts vast volumes of water mixed with toxic chemicals beneath the seafloor, at pressures high enough to fracture rocks. The high pressures used in offshore fracking increase the risk of well failure and oil spills.

At least 10 fracking chemicals used in offshore fracking in California could kill or harm a broad variety of marine species, including sea otters and fish, Center scientists have found. The California Council on Science and Technology has identified some common fracking chemicals to be among the most toxic in the world to marine animals.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.


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