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Just how dangerous is fracking? Activists and the government disagree.

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In the Vice Presidential debate last week, Senator Kamala Harris made it clear that if elected, Joe Biden will not ban fracking.

That doesn't come as a surprise considering the votes they need are from states where fracking is a key part of the state’s economic infrastructure. 

The controversial practice is also done in California, albeit not in the same way as Pennsylvania, but it does have an effect on the environment. The question is what is that effect. While scientists don’t have the exact answer, they do believe there are some repercussions. 

Fracking is when a liquid is injected into the ground at a high pressure to extract oil or gas. Research shows that methane is released into the air when fracking occurs.

A 2019 article from National Geographic detailed that the methane released from shale gas is a substantial component of the overall methane rise since 2008.

However, shale gas production does not occur in California. So, what type of fracking happens here? 

Workers tend to a well head during a hydraulic fracturing operation at an Encana Oil and Gas well in western Colorado. [The Associated Press file] (Photo: AP)

Despite Gov. Gavin Newsom recently announcing a plan to phase out fracking by 2024, 12 new fracking permits were issued in Kern County this past July by the regulatory agencies in charge of the process. 

If you ask the scientists from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, LLNL, what we do in California can’t really be called fracking. 

“The popularization of the ‘fracking’ word was associated with the large scale shale source rock development,” said Pencheng Fu, an earth scientist at the laboratory. “What they do in California is the more traditional method."

Fu, along with Rick Ryerson, a geochemist with the laboratory, would call what's done in California “low-volume hydraulic stimulation,” believing that the colloquial term “fracking” covers too broad of a field.

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The LLNL helps California’s Geologic Energy Management Division, CalGEM, follow regulations for well stimulation by serving as an outside review board for applicants.

Ryerson made it clear that they do not provide consent to the permit applicants but merely advise CalGEM. They go through each application and look at preexisting wells relative to the axial dimension stimulation area, or ADSA.

Basically, they’re assessing a risk factor based on how close potential sites for wells are to past sites. They also take into account whether past wells have been closed off, which affects how close another well can be. 

This ADSA process is part of each new application. 

“We determined that we needed more documentation of how the fracture dimensions were estimated and now those have been produced and will be linked to the current set of applications and to future applications,” Ryerson said. 

According to Wellstar, the California Department of Conservation Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources’ new electronic database, there are currently over 40 active hydraulic fracturing permits that were issued this year. 

No one is completely sure there's a direct link between fracking and wildfires and like many things about the environment, people are divided. 

According to the Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit organization working to protect endangered species, a line can be drawn from fracking to more wildfires, with some stops along the way, most notably climate change.  

Hollin Kretzmann, of the center, wrote in an email that fracking leads to more fossil fuel production and combustion. These increased emissions contribute to the production of greenhouse gases, which trap heat.

“Climate change is leading to hotter, drier conditions that are making fires more likely to burn, putting more fire on the landscape, and increasing the length of the fire season,” Kretzmann wrote. “Climate change is also making fires harder — if not impossible — to suppress during hot, dry, windy ‘extreme fire weather’ conditions.”

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While there may not be an instant connection, Kretzmann believes the process that starts with fracking is part of the reason the Western United States is experiencing wildfires.

If fracking continues at the current rate, Kretzmann’s concern is that our health, water, air, and climate are at risk. She wrote that if Newsom is serious about fighting climate change he needs to act quickly. 

Senator Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, and Assemblymembers Robert Rivas, D-Hollister, and Monique Limón, D-Santa Barbara, recently announced they would move forward with introducing a fracking ban in December. 

“We are literally killing the planet with carbon emissions, and burning fossil fuel is at the heart of the problem,” Senator Wiener said, according to the press release on the CA State Assembly Democratic Caucus’ website. “We must end our reliance on all forms of fossil fuel, and California must lead the way. California being one of the largest oil producers is inconsistent with being a climate leader.”

The Center for Biological Diversity thinks this doesn’t go far enough.

The lawmakers asked that Newsom should do the following: Stop issuing new approvals for fracking oil and gas wells, institute a health buffer between the existing wells and communities and begin a plan to phase out oil and gas production.

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Newsom also has a plan to phase out gas-powered cars; transportation currently makes up more than 50% of California's greenhouse gas emissions.

“It’s great that these legislators want to ban fracking, but Gov. Newsom has all the power he needs to protect Californians from dirty oil extraction today," Kretzmann wrote. 

Not everyone believes that fracking should be stopped completely.

State Oil Gas Supervisor Uduak-Joe Ntuk, who heads the Department of Conservation's CA Geologic Energy Management Division, CalGEM, wrote in an email that he’s not aware of any connection between hydraulic fracturing and wildfires and that CalGEM's hydraulic fracturing regulations are considered the toughest in the nation.

“The Newsom Administration has strengthened oversight of oil and gas extraction and required extensive third-party, scientific review of each requested fracking permit by a national laboratory to ensure that public health and the environment are protected,” Ntuk wrote.

Ntuk also wrote that all hydraulic fracturing in California since 2015 has occurred in established oil fields in Kern County and happens hundreds to thousands of feet underground.

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Even if there isn’t a line from fracking to wildfires, Gustavo Aguirre Jr. of the Central Coast Environmental Justice Network explained that fracking causes other problems to nearby communities, such as affecting the air and water quality.

His organization allows communities to monitor their own air quality and chronicle suspected environmental problems through reporting networks. 

“Climate change is manifesting and we know what the problem is so I think in order to protect Californians and really the Western hemisphere, we definitely need to ban practices like [fracking] that are extreme not only [to] the local groundwater and air quality, but [to] the longevity and the sustainability of the next generation,” Aguirre Jr. said.

Daniel Fernandez, a professor of applied environmental science at CSUMB, also has concerns with hydraulic stimulation. Two of them are the amount of water required for the process and the effect on the local economy.

“It’s an operation where a company or external agency will come to a location, do the operation and then leave. It’s not establishing strong communities, which is critical right now,” Fernandez said. “It’s people who tend to be traveling from one location to another, it’s more of a boom and bust type of economy.”

He’s hesitant to make the direct correlation between fracking and wildfires, but he notes that many things play a role. 

“Everything’s a component. I’m hesitant to say it’s one thing that’s happening locally,” he said. “The climate change issue, it’s a worldwide issue and contributions to it are happening all around the world, not just in California, although certainly, it includes what’s in California.”