Group protests fracking operations off coast

Members of the national nonprofit group Center for Biological Diversity, donning gas masks and hazmat suits, protested outside a California Coastal Commission meeting Wednesday to urge the federal government to stop oil companies from performing hydraulic fracking off the coast.

The group gathered around 10 a.m. at the Newport Beach Civic Center to ask the government to intervene against oil companies that they say want to use offshore wells for fracking and then dump waste into the ocean.

The group said in a news release that it wants the commissioners to demand a consistency review of fracking in federal waters, which would require public notice and oversight of operations in the Santa Barbara Channel.

—Alicia Lopez

Twitter: ALopezCityEd