The Los Angeles City Council moved to potentially ban fracking on Feb. 28, when they unanimously approved a motion that will study the controversial practice for extracting oil.

The motion, authored by City Councilmen Paul Koretz, 5th District, and Mike Bonin, 11th District, calls for a study on how extensive fracking is throughout Los Angeles, and what potential effects it may have on public health and the environment. Koretz conceded that city officials do not fully know the extent of the practice and whether it is safe, but he said he wants the city to get ahead of the issue before it becomes a more significant problem.

The Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office has been directed to spearhead a study and draft a report on the feasibility of a ban on fracking — and similar practices such as acidizing and gravel packing — in which water, chemicals and abrasive materials are injected into the ground at high pressure to dislodge oil or natural gas so it can be more easily extracted. The motion calls on city departments such as the Los Angeles Fire Department, the Bureau of Sanitation, Planning and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to provide information for the study. Koretz hopes the report will be completed within two months, so the city council can decide whether to move forward with a ban.

“We are trying to put a moratorium on all methods, and we need it for a number of reasons,” Koretz said. “It’s been strangely associated with earthquakes in places in the country that don’t have earthquakes, and in earthquake-prone places like Los Angeles, we need to be particularly careful what we are doing with our underground rock formations. The other thing we need to be looking at is preventing a process that could be turning thousands of gallons of water into toxic liquid.”

City officials are also concerned about the amount of water used for fracking, particularly during a period of drought. One well operation can consume 1 million to 100 million gallons of water. There are also concerns about the potential for contaminating drinking water.

Andy Shrader, deputy for environmental affairs and sustainability for Koretz, said the exact number of fracking operations in Los Angeles has yet to be determined, and statistics compiled by state agencies such as the Department of Conservation, and quasi-government agencies such as the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD), may not provide a clear picture. There are approximately 1,880 active wells in Los Angeles, according to the Department of Conservation, but there is no specific data on which ones, if any, utilize fracking. The Legislature approved a bill last year that requires the oil industry to notify state agencies when fracking occurs.

AQMD spokesman Sam Atwood said the agency began keeping track of fracking sites in Los Angeles and the surrounding areas last June, and data is only available from June through December. During that time, fracking was reported at 14 locations in Los Angeles County and the surrounding area. Eight sites were in the city of Long Beach and six were in the city of Brea.

“There’s been no reports of fracking [in Los Angeles]. We are trying to see where [there have been] incidents of well acidizing,” he said

Acidizing is a process in which acid is used to clean the well, but acid can also be pumped into the ground to dissolve rock around oil deposits to make them easier to extract. Shrader said the Inglewood Oil Field, which generally stretches from Culver City to the city of Inglewood, and some communities west of downtown, are places where fracking or acidizing may be being conducted. City officials are also concerned about fracking or acidizing at oil wells near the Beverly Hills/Los Angeles border, Shrader said.

Koretz said the decision by the city council is proactive, and added that he at least wants a moratorium on fracking until it is determined whether the process is safe. An exact timeline for the report’s completion has not been established, but Koretz hopes it can be done as soon as possible.

“We need to get a handle on this,” Koretz said. “We need to stop these activities until they are proven safe, and I am very skeptical that will ever happen.”