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A protestor holds a sign at the set up camp against fracking at entrance of the Cuadrilla Resources site in Balcome West Sussex, Britain, 16 August 2013. The extraction by hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, faces strong opposition from environmentalists and communities near potential production sites. (Facundo Arrizabalaga/AP photo)

THE STATE Legislature is considering how to deal with the effects of hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking."

Fracking is an oil and gas extraction process that, with technological advances in recent years, is creating a California oil rush — a rush which threatens our environment, public health and safety, water supply and coastal waters.

More importantly, it threatens to undermine the strides made to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions in the face of significant, perhaps catastrophic, climate change scenarios. Drilling and fracking for shale oil and gas, and producing, refining and burning shale oil and gas, results in substantial methane emissions, a far more lethal greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

California's shale oil is low-quality, high sulphur heavy crude. Shale oil is two to three times more energy intensive to refine and produces 40 percent more greenhouse gas emissions when compared to typical refinery feedstock.

The continued extraction of oil and gas and our reliance on fossil fuels is contrary to efforts to transition to the use of renewable energy sources needed to aggressively address and slow the effects of climate change. Additionally, 25 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions are absorbed by oceans, creating a problem known as ocean acidification. A more acidic ocean could result in an irreversible disruption of ecosystems and the collapse of the food web.

The Environmental Protection Agency has documented that wastewater from fracking is potentially laced with hundreds of toxic chemicals, heavy metals and naturally occurring radioactive materials. Current disposal methods in California are inadequate, and allow the possibility that highly toxic fracking wastewater will contaminate watersheds, reaching rivers, streams, wetlands, our bay and coastal waters, as well as agricultural and drinking water supplies.

Given the dangers of fracking, it is surprisingly virtually unregulated. The oil and gas industry is granted exceptions to compliance with federal legislation designed to protect the public and the environment, including the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 and the Clean Water Act of 1972. Additionally, the California Department of Conservation, Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources is responsible for approving and monitoring oil wells in California, but has no records of the locations or number of wells where fracking is occurring. Nor does DOGGR maintain records of the types and amounts of chemicals used, the amount of water used, the source of the water, or the disposition of the wastewater generated by this process.

The lack of regulatory oversight, combined with the haste to employ new extraction technologies such as acid-matrix stimulation, is quickly becoming a critical problem.

The Legislature has attempted to deal with this through a variety of measures that would tightly regulate or restrict fracking and guarantee public health and safety. Unfortunately, most of those bills were stopped somewhere along the process.

We believe it is time to adopt a statewide moratorium on hydraulic fracturing.

This moratorium would remain in effect until state and federal legislation and regulations are put in place to repeal exceptions to the Safe Drinking Water Act, guarantee public health and safety, mitigate the effects on climate change, protect the environment, allow government access and testing of chemicals used, and require full disclosure and testing of sites, with adequate time for public input.

This is not just a serious public health or environmental issue. With the projected climate change scenarios and growing concerns with ocean acidification, it is imperative that we make every effort to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.

Keeping California's dirty shale oil below ground is one big step in that direction.

Marc Levine of San Rafael represents Marin in the state Assembly. Supervisor Kate Sears of Sausalito represents District 3. The Marin Board of Supervisors will be asked to adopt a resolution on hydraulic fracking at the Aug. 20 board meeting, starting at 10 a.m. at the county Civic Center in San Rafael.