Thousands of environmentalists are expected to take to the streets Saturday in the San Francisco Bay Area to demand California's governor ban fracking.
More than 100 environmental and community groups have signed on to take part in the protest in Gov. Jerry Brown's hometown of Oakland. Many protesters will travel by bus from around the state, organizers said.
Some began their protest Friday outside Brown's San Francisco office. Police say 12 anti-fracking protesters were arrested when they briefly blocked public access to the building.
California is the No. 3 oil producer in the nation and has added an average of 300 wells each month for the past decade. About half of them are using hydraulic fracturing or fracking, a technique that involves injecting water, sand and chemicals to break apart underground rocks so oil and gas can escape.
Environmentalists say numerous studies show fracking is worsening climate change, exacerbating California's historic drought, and jeopardizing the health of residents.
Brown is known globally as a leading supporter of solar, wind and other renewable energy. But the Democratic governor has also supported tapping California's oil reserves and has refused to ban hydraulic fracturing for oil. Protesters have dogged him for more than a year, even interrupting his speech at the Democratic Party convention last spring.
Through a spokesman, Brown declined to comment on the protest, referring questions to the California Department of Conservation. In a prepared statement, chief deputy director Jason Marshall avoided using the term fracking, instead calling it "well stimulation.''
"We have no direct evidence that any harm has been caused by the practice in California,'' he said. "We believe the regulations we've created, atop existing well construction standards, will protect the environment.''
State officials are conducting a series of fracking reviews as California sets up its first comprehensive regulatory framework, after Brown signed a bill imposing new rules, which oil producers say will be the toughest regulations in the nation.
Industry representatives say any threat to underground water sources is minimal.
"It's not a crisis, not a wide-scale problem. I think the fact the (state) identified the issue, took action and is now seeking to remedy, suggests the system works pretty well,'' said Tupper Hull of the Western States Petroleum Association.
