The people here haven't had enough trauma in their lives. Northridge alone is a reason to prohibit fracking.

September 22, 2012

By Ruben Vives, Los Angeles Times

...Fracking has come under scrutiny, (click here) however, amid allegations that it increases seismic activity and that it contaminates water supplies.

Located two miles south of the 10 Freeway, the field is surrounded by a handful of communities, including Culver City, Baldwin Hills and Inglewood — making it the largest urban oil field in the country. Plains Exploration is hoping to tap into the oil reserves in the field's shale formations identified in 2003.

Residents say their properties have been damaged by mysterious land shifts, and that has increased their fears about the use of fracking. Some homeowners say they suspect the movements may be related to drilling operations. The cause is unclear, however, given that the area sits on top of the Newport-Inglewood fault.

Still, environmental and community groups like Food & Water Watch and Citizens Coalition for a Safe Community are trying to stop Plains Exploration from using the technique, and are calling on state lawmakers to ban the practice....

Two weekend earthquakes were related

By Karen Jordan
April 29, 2013

...Two, small earthquakes (click here)  that occurred near Marina del Rey and the Beach Cities over the weekend were related to each other, according to seismologists.

The first earthquake measured a magnitude-3.1 and occurred at 7:52 p.m. on Friday two miles south of Marina del Rey. The second occurred on Sunday night halfway between Marina del Rey and El Segundo and measured a magnitude-2.8. It was an aftershock, according to Anthony Guarino, a CalTech seismic analyst.

"It’s not uncommon to have aftershocks for any earthquake, but for such a small event, a magnitude 3.1 is fairly small to be having aftershocks," said Guarino. "It does happen, but it doesn’t happen that often.”

No injuries were reported during either quake.

Given the small size of the earthquakes, Guarino said it makes it difficult to determine on what fault they occurred.

"There are many faults in that area," Guarino said. "The most notorious is the Newport-Inglewood fault."