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<font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">In case you haven't seen
this yet. </font><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">
Steve </font><br>
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<b><big><font face="Times New Roman">Santa Cruz becomes first
California county to ban fracking</font></big></b><br>
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<font face="Times New Roman">By Rory Carroll</font><br>
<font face="Times New Roman">May 20, 2014</font><br>
<font face="Times New Roman">Reuters</font><br>
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<font face="Times New Roman"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://news.yahoo.com/santa-cruz-becomes-first-california-county-ban-fracking-012754402--finance.html">http://news.yahoo.com/santa-cruz-becomes-first-california-county-ban-fracking-012754402--finance.html</a>
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<font face="Times New Roman">SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Santa Cruz on
Tuesday became the first California county to ban fracking, the
latest in a string of moves by local governments in the state to
take a stand against the controversial oil and gas producing
method.</font><br>
<font face="Times New Roman">Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing,
relies on injecting water, sand and some chemicals deep beneath
the earth's surface to break up rock and free up oil and gas
trapped below.</font><br>
<font face="Times New Roman">Environmentalists say the chemicals
used in the process can pollute underground water supplies and
cause other damage.</font><br>
<font face="Times New Roman">The scenic county of Santa Cruz does
not have any oil or gas production, but advocates said momentum
for a ban took shape after reports surfaced saying that oil
companies were exploring the possibly of fracking in neighboring
San Benito county.</font><br>
<font face="Times New Roman">The ban is also intended to pressure
California Governor Jerry Brown into agreeing to put a halt to the
practice in the state, a step he refused to take in the last
legislative session.</font><br>
<font face="Times New Roman">Brown has said he supports fracking
because he believes it is better for the state to produce its own
crude oil than rely on imports.</font><br>
<font face="Times New Roman">"While Governor Brown refuses to
protect our health and environment from fracking risks, local
communities across the state are moving forward with measures to
fight oil industry pollution," said Rose Braz of the Center for
Biological Diversity.</font><br>
<font face="Times New Roman">An oil industry representative on
Tuesday played down the significance of the Santa Cruz vote,
calling it "symbolic."</font><br>
<font face="Times New Roman">"Activists are going around the state
pursuing total bans on oil and gas development under the guise of
wanting to ban fracking, but in places where people earn their
livings responsibly producing our oil and gas resources, this
strategy won't work," said Dave Quast, California director of
Energy In Depth, an oil industry-backed group.</font><br>
<font face="Times New Roman">Fracking has emerged as a top
environmental issue in California. Its Monterey Shale formation
contains an estimated 15 billion barrels of hard-to-reach oil,
according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.</font><br>
<font face="Times New Roman">The action in Santa Cruz follows a vote
earlier this month by city leaders in Beverly Hills to ban
fracking, making it the first municipality in the state to
prohibit the practice.</font><br>
<font face="Times New Roman">Los Angeles and Culver City are
considering bans on fracking as well.</font><br>
<font face="Times New Roman">Last month, the city council in Carson,
California, declined to extend a temporary moratorium on fracking
and other extraction practices. Occidental Petroleum is looking to
drill more than 200 new wells in the Southern California city,
although it denies it will frack or use acid to stimulate those
wells.</font><br>
<font face="Times New Roman">(Reporting by Rory Carroll; Editing by
Mohammad Zargham)</font><br>
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<font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><b>338 Comments </b></font><br>
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