Opponents of hydraulic frac- turing who came to City Hall on March 24 hoping that the City Council would take a firm stand on the oil extraction procedure will have to wait for another day.
The council voted unani- mously to ask City Attorney Carol Schwab to craft language for city leaders to consider a moratorium or possible ban on hydraulic fracturing in Culver City but stopped short of a full-throated endorsement of outlawing it.
Hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, is an oil extraction technique that used to obtain oil and natural gas in areas where those energy supplies are trapped in rock and sand formation by injecting a mixture of water and chemicals into the ground.
Last year, the council passed a resolution asking the state government to ban fracking.
The Los Angeles City Council voted in favor of a moratorium hydraulic fracturing on Feb. 28. Mayor Jeffery Cooper told the News a day after the vote that he wanted to work with other cities, including Ingle- wood, that might be impacted by oil drilling before taking action to outlaw fracking locally. “I plan to talk to Mayor (James) Butts to see if they want to see if they want to get involved,” Cooper said.
Vice Mayor Meghan Sahli-Wells seemed to be the most impatient member of the council regarding a prohibition on fracking locally.
Cooper said he understood her position. “There was a concern by the vice mayor about waiting [to institute a ban],” the mayor said. “I don’t want to wait a long time either, but if [the state] delays acting on this, I might reconsider.”
The state Department of Conservation released regulations on hydraulic fracturing last year.
Members of Frack Free Culver City, an antifracking group, advocate a complete ban on hydraulic fracturing.
The topic of hydraulic fractur- ing has been present in the City Council campaign, although it is not viewed widely to be a defini-candidates have taken positions against it. Christopher King, a mortgage banker seeking one of the two available council seats, has taken perhaps the most definitive position on fracking. “Our current leader (Cooper) has said he is opposed to a ban on local fracking,” said King in an interview earlier this month.
King enthusiastically backs a citywide ban on fracking and is in favor of a possible ballot measure to prohibit fracking citywide, an idea floated by former City Councilman Gary Silbiger if the council fails to take action.
“Passing a strong antifracking ballot initiative will protect our neighborhoods from severe health and safety concerns while at the same time demonstrate to other communities that a unified voice has power beyond our dreams,” the former councilman said last year.
The nearby Inglewood Oilfield includes wells on Culver City, but they account for only 10 percent of the oil production from the oilfield, a fact that Cooper has pointed out on many occasions.
Cooper said he is also consulting with Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin, who led the campaign for the fracking moratorium in Los Angeles.
