On Thursday, CALPIRG students on the UCSB Campus (California Public Interest Research Group) hosted a virtual screening of the Josh Fox documentary Gasland II along with guest speakers for a Q&A session to spark conversations about the consequences of fracking. Oil and gas drilling sites in California and other states contaminate our groundwater with over 220 identified carcinogens, and methane causing tap water to catch on fire. These harmful chemicals, gas, and fluids from hydraulic fracturing often leads to contamination of groundwater and residents’ sources of drinking water, an obvious sign that it isn’t safe to use, a high-risk threat to vulnerable communities.
Santa Barbara County Supervisor Joan Hartmann opened the event with a comment on how she has always seen “UCSB to lead in sustainability,” and “CALPIRG has been a really important political player locally”. Supervisor Hartmann also mentioned CALPIRG’s nonpartisan New Voters Project and their work to make democracy more accessible during the 2020 election. She emphasized “who gets elected... determines which issues don’t (or do) come.” Chief of Staff to Supervisor Hartmann, Jefferson Litten, added “the work CALPIRG Student- Liam Horstick- had done with me to get community choice electricity was invaluable.”
“The fracking process also causes cracks in deep earth rock structures which has been linked to increased earthquakes which is especially dangerous on the San Andreas fault. Areas in California have even experienced a 10-fold increase in quake activity,” says End Oil Drilling Coordinator Handri Handoyo. “Living within 2 miles of a drilling site presents detrimental threats to peoples’ health. Currently, there are 5.4 million Californians living within 1 mile of a drilling site - that’s approximately 14% of all Californians. What makes matters worse is that 92% of that are communities of color,” says Anna Friedman CALPIRG intern.