Media Advisory, November 1, 2013

Contact:  Rose Braz, (510) 435-6809, rbraz@biologicaldiversity.org 

Anti-fracking Activists Confront Gov. Brown at Oakland Event

Coalition Highlights Extreme Oil Production's Harm to State's Air, Water, Climate

OAKLAND, Calif.— Sign-carrying activists with the Center for Biological Diversity and Californians Against Fracking will urge Gov. Jerry Brown to ban fracking at his appearance at a groundbreaking event for the Oakland Global Trade and Logistics Center in West Oakland.

Gov. Brown has been dogged by protestors from the 150-member Californians Against Fracking coalition for his refusal to ban the highly polluting technique, which involves blasting huge volumes of water mixed with toxic chemicals into the ground to break up rock formations and release oil and gas.

“Gov. Brown needs to realize that climate leaders don’t frack,” said Rose Braz of the Center for Biological Diversity. “The governor’s support for this dangerous form of oil and gas extraction could tarnish the Golden State forever. Fracking pollution contaminates the air we breathe and the water we drink. It will also blow a huge hole in California’s efforts to fight dangerous climate change.”

What: Protest calling on Gov. Jerry Brown to ban fracking outside governor’s appearance at Oakland Global Trade and Logistics Center groundbreaking. 
When:   Today, Friday, Nov. 1 at 1 p.m.
Where:   Groundbreaking for Oakland Global Trade and Logistics Center
Corner of Maritime and Ukraine Streets
Oakland, CA

Despite acknowledging the urgent need to fight climate change, Gov. Brown has refused to halt fracking in California. Fracking is tied to air and water pollution and releases huge volumes of methane, a dangerously potent greenhouse gas.

A study published this year in the Journal of Geophysical Research found that the methane leak rate from Los Angeles-area oil and gas operations was 17 percent, a rate that makes these fuels far worse for the climate than coal. New fracking and acidization technologies are opening up huge new sources of dirty oil in California’s Monterey Shale formation to extraction and combustion, threatening the state’s leadership on climate. 

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 625,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

Californians Against Fracking is a coalition of environmental, business, health, agriculture, labor, political, and environmental justice organizations working to win a statewide ban on fracking in California.


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