By Miriam Raftery

April 21, 2013 (San Diego) – “Another scourge is beginning in California,” environmental activist Peg Mitchell told audience members at a forum on environmental justice issues hosted by Activist San Diego on April 15.  That “scourge”  is fracking – and in California, it’s all about extracting oil, not natural gas. 

To frack for oil requires millions of gallons of water –a precious commodity in Cailfornia.  It also means injecting toxic chemicals that corporations are not required to disclose due to the “Halliburton Law” pushed through by former Vice President Dick Cheney. 

The public doesn’t have a right to know where fracking is occurring or where its waste products will be dumped—even though fracking can cause earthquakes, disturb radioactive substances in the earth, reinject contaminated water into wells, and potentially pollute thousands of miles of coastline.

So why the push to frack for oil in California?