Fracking OFFSHORE (in the ocean) off ca coast without environmental review

A Venoco platform off the coast of Santa Barbara.

An investigation by TruthOut - an online news source - has uncovered information using a Freedom of Information Act request. They have learned that fracking was approved by federal regulators in the waters off the Santa Barbara coast without environmental review that some say is required by federal law. More fracking is possible. 

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A Truthout investigation has confirmed that federal regulators approved at least two hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," operations on oil rigs in the Santa Barbara Channel off the coast of California since 2009 without an updated environmental review that critics say may be required by federal law.  


In 2012, Truthout reported that an oil company called Venoco had quietly used fracking technology to stimulate oil production in an old well off the coast of Santa Barbara in early 2010. A Freedom of Information Act request recently filed by Truthout has confirmed the Venoco operation and revealed that another firm had since received permission for fracking in the Santa Barbara channel, which is home to the Channel Islands marine reserve.

This year, federal regulators approved an application by the Ventura-based company DCOR LLC to use fracking technology known as "frack pack" in a sandstone well 1,500 feet from a seismic fault in the outer continental shelf off the California coast, according to the documents released by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), the federal agency that permits offshore drilling...

Truthout has confirmed that regulators approved both the Venoco and DCOR LLC frack jobs by signing off on modifications to existing drilling permits. The regulators claim that they review all applications for environmental concerns, but environmentalists say that they did not produce the kind of detailed assessment of the potential impacts that modern fracking technology could have on ocean environments that is required by the federal law.

"It's completely illegal for the agency to approve fracking in the outer continental shelf without conducting a complete environmental impact statement," said Kassie Siegal, a senior counsel at the Center for Biological Diversity, after learning about the offshore fracking.

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