The California Coastal Commission has reported that it was unaware until recently that oil companies working in the Santa Barbara Channel were using hydraulic fracturing technology to stimulate wells. The revelation has stimulated debate as well, as regulators consider whether offshore fracking should be regulated in the same way as the dry-ground variety. The Santa Barbara Channel is already off-limits to new drilling leases since 1969, when a 3MM gal (71.4K bbl) spill occurred that is now said to have been one of the foundational events of the modern environmentalist movement. Drilling is still permitted, however, from 23 platforms that were then already in place, and federal regulators have allowed fracking there for some time.
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