Can Fracking and Farming Mix in America's Biggest Ag State?
Can Fracking and Farming Mix in America's Biggest Ag State?
Mar 28, 2013 6(Yahoo) - We all know oil and water don’t mix, but what about oil extraction and water-intensive farming? Can both take place safely in California’s Central Valley? That’s the growing question as the nation’s biggest farm state comes ever closer to embracing hydraulic fracturing or “fracking.”
Some of the biggest oil and gas companies have been quickly buying up water and oil rights, with over 17,000 acres of oil leases on California public land auctioned off by federal land managers at the end of 2012. Eyes are on the Monterey Shale, a giant 1,750 square-mile area that runs along the western side of the state and is believed to hold as much as 15 billion barrels of crude oil.
As energy companies explore the shale, they're hopeful. Tupper Hull of the Western States Petroleum Association, an industry group representing oil and gas companies, told California NPR affiliate KQED: “If hydraulic fracturing proves to be successful here as it’s been elsewhere, it’s an extraordinarily optimistic future we’re looking at from an energy point of view.”
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