title:  Fractivists Claim Victory Against This Fracking Danger You’ve Probably Never Heard Of
text: The Center for Biological Diversity just announced that they have won a major lawsuit against the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. The lawsuit was settled in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. The lawsuit will put a moratorium on fracking that is occurring off the coast of California. It may have future importance in determining the fate of off shore fracking in the Gulf Coast. This halt to offshore fracking is a huge victory for California s coastal environment,  said Kristen Monsell, a Center attorney.  Offshore fracking is a dirty and dangerous practice that has absolutely no place in our ocean. The federal government certainly has no right to give the oil industry free rein to frack offshore at will. A lot of attention has been paid to the fracking that is going on in people s backyards. That s under stable. Anyone who has seen the infamous fire faucet from Gasland, or heard about the increased number of earthquakes fracking related activity is causing, should be concerned about their back yard. Be that as it may, there has been a huge boom in offshore fracking that is putting North America s coasts in danger. Until now, America s coast has been a virtual free-for-all for the fracking industry.The fracking industry has permission from the federal government to dump 9 billion gallons of waste water from fracking operations into the ocean. That wastewater comes from their 200 oil platforms that are found off the coast of California. That waste water contains chemicals from the fracking process. Unfortunately, most of the chemicals commonly used in fracking process are considered  trade secrets  making it so that the public is not able to find out what chemicals are being used. Every offshore frack puts coastal communities and marine wildlife at risk from dangerous chemicals or another devastating oil spill,  Monsell said.  Once federal officials take a hard look at the dangers, they ll have to conclude that offshore fracking is far too big of a gamble with our oceans  life-support systems. They ll have to stop authorizing it for good. It might be a bit optimistic to say that settlement will lead to a complete end to federal authorization of offshore fracking. However, the new requirements that the fracking industry will have to go through in order to get authorization are substantial. This is a major paperwrench to the fracking industry, that will in the very least delay new offshore fracking operations.Featured Image Credit: By Ken Lund [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons