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<font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Cheers to Jed Clampett
& family! <br>
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<font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><big><b>Beverly Hills
becomes first in California to ban fracking</b></big><br>
<br>
By Dana Feldman<br>
May 7, 2014<br>
Reuters<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://news.yahoo.com/beverly-hills-becomes-first-california-ban-fracking-045300285--finance.html">http://news.yahoo.com/beverly-hills-becomes-first-california-ban-fracking-045300285--finance.html</a>
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<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><st1:place><st1:city>BEVERLY
HILLS</st1:city>, <st1:state>California</st1:state></st1:place>
(Reuters) - City leaders in celebrity-filled <st1:city><st1:place>Beverly
Hills</st1:place></st1:city> voted on Tuesday to ban
fracking, becoming the first municipality in <st1:state><st1:place>California</st1:place></st1:state>
to prohibit the controversial technique for extracting natural
gas and oil </font>from underground rock deposits.</p>
<p>Environmentalists say chemicals used in the process pollute
underground water supplies and cause other damage.</p>
<p>The unanimous vote by the <st1:city><st1:place>Beverly Hills</st1:place></st1:city>
city council gives final approval to fracking ban, which was
given the initial go-ahead by the panel last month. Council
members, five of whom voted in favor of the ban, did not
publicly discuss the measure on Tuesday. It will take effect on
June 6.</p>
<p><st1:city><st1:place>Beverly Hills</st1:place></st1:city> is
one of the nation's most affluent cities and is home to numerous
luxury retailers, but it is not untouched by the oil industry.
Oil drilling has for decades occurred at <st1:place><st1:placename>Beverly
Hills</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>High School</st1:placetype></st1:place>,
but the city council in 2011 voted to bring that to an end in
2016.</p>
<p>The move to ban fracking was undertaken in a similar spirit,
city spokeswoman Therese Kosterman said in a phone interview
before the final vote.</p>
<p>"It's just the sense that industrial processes such as mining
and oil drilling really is not appropriate in <st1:city><st1:place>Beverly
Hills</st1:place></st1:city>," Kosterman said.</p>
<p>No company had put forward any proposals to conduct fracking
operations in <st1:city><st1:place>Beverly Hills</st1:place></st1:city>,
she said. But the technique is already employed in nearby oil
fields elsewhere in <st1:place><st1:placename>Los Angeles</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype>County</st1:placetype></st1:place>.</p>
<p>The move by <st1:city><st1:place>Beverly Hills</st1:place></st1:city>
officials follows last year's approval by <st1:state><st1:place>California</st1:place></st1:state>
lawmakers of the state's first regulations on fracking. The law
requires oil companies to obtain permits for fracking as well as
acidizing, the use of hydrofluoric acid and other chemicals to
dissolve shale rock.</p>
<p>Dave Quast, <st1:state><st1:place>California</st1:place></st1:state>
director of energy in depth, a research and education program of
the California Independent Petroleum Association, said in a
statement that banning fracking threatens the state's energy
independence.</p>
<p>"A greater reliance on expensive imported fuel sources would
put <st1:place>Southern California</st1:place> jobs at risk and
could result in higher prices at the pump," Quast said.</p>
<p>Don Drysdale, a spokesman for the California Department of
Conservation, said in an email that no other community in the
state has officially banned fracking.</p>
<p><st1:city><st1:place>Los Angeles</st1:place></st1:city>
officials are exploring a possible moratorium on fracking. In
other parts of the country, <st1:place><st1:placename>New York</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype>State</st1:placetype></st1:place> has
instituted a moratorium on the technique, and <st1:state><st1:place>Illinois</st1:place></st1:state>
last year adopted a strict set of regulations on it.</p>
<p>(Additional reporting by Phil Furey in <st1:city><st1:place>Beverly
Hills</st1:place></st1:city>, Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis;
Editing by Michael Perry)</p>
<p><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span
style="font-family:Arial">118 Comments<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
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