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Earthquakes of the kind we experienced in Southern California over the past few weeks are not at all unusual. But, environmental groups, and even the Los Angeles City Council want to know if the controversial practice of “fracking” may have been responsible for our recent seismic activity.

Fracking is the practice of pumping high pressure water and chemicals into the earth to release natural gas and oil. Large swaths of Los Angeles sit atop the Monterey shale, which is a giant reservoir of oil trapped deep underground. For that reason, Southern California is on the brink of a fracking boom.

But, if fracking can trigger seismic activity, on top of ground water pollution, and resulting air pollution and long term contributions to green house gas emissions, why are we still allowing fracking operations to continue? Many Angelinos still remember the devastating Northridge earthquake only 20 years ago which killed nearly 60 people and left 125,000 people homeless.

GUEST: Alexandra Nagy, Southern California organizer with Food and Water Watch

Click here to download a recent report about Fracking in California and its links to earthquakes.

Find out more about Food and Water Watch at www.foodandwaterwatch.org.