Assemblymember Richard Bloom, who represents Malibu and surrounding cities in the State Assembly, announced Thursday that he introduced a bill that would put a stop to a controversial method of fossil fuel production until state regulators can develop rules to protect public health and safety and address other environmental concerns.
Hydraulic fracturing, commonly called fracking, allows for the extraction of oil and natural gas deposits using chemicals to break into the earth. Environmentalists are concerned that fracking uses and produces highly toxic-chemicals that pose threats to public safety and the environment.
Bloom’s bill would put a stop to fracking until California regulators come out with a plan to track and control the practice.
“This moratorium will incentivize all stakeholders to address the public health, safety and environmental hazards that fracking poses to California,” said Bloom (D-Santa Monica), Santa Monica’s former mayor.
Although fracking seems like an abstract problem to Westsiders, it’s actually being explored right around the corner. The Culver City Council called on the state to ban fracking temporarily last year, a week before the completion of a fracking study at the Inglewood Oil Field, the L.A. Times reported.