Fracking our Public Lands

 18,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management Public Lands were auctioned off today for oil and gas extraction. This is after 800,000 acres of public land has gone for oil shale development in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming.
About 50 of us converged from around the state to protest outside the BLM office in Sacramento. It was ludicrous... Homeland Security wanted us to sign a form just to stand on the property while they allow our land to be sold off to polluters who just want to make a huge buck for themselves.

 There are so many issues about Fracking but the chief one is that the chemicals used to blast apart the rock to reach the oil or gas contaminates huge amounts of pressurized water needed to release the shale oil or gas. This water can not be recycled--the information about what's in the frack fluid is proprietary so there isn't even a chance to recycle it and when fracking occurs or contaminated water is reinjected into the earth there are frequent earthquakes-- just what California doesn't need.

 Our water is precious and the Delta region where salmon and other species of wildlife are making a last stand is already contaminated and suffering from the low water levels and increased salinity. We can't afford to ship water south for fracking or any other non-essential use. The oil and gas companies don't care if there is a glut-- they will simply export their product and leave surrounding farms, communities and our state in decline. See the movie Gasland if you haven't. See the coverage http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/12/12-12

 On the way home we went by about 15 gas frack wells right up against the Sutter Buttes. These are owned by the Venaco company which is fracking also in southern California. Large water tanks capture the contaminated water but who knows where they truck it? This in one of the most scenic areas imaginable.. miles of wells.
Wake up any of you who haven't been paying attention. This is our only earth!