www.montereycountyweekly.com MAY 25-31, 2023 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 17 On the surface, San Ardo is a place in South Monterey County where agricultural fields of the Salinas Valley meet rolling hills of the Gabilan Mountains. Under the surface, the San Ardo Field is roughly a 6-by-2.5-mile area comprising some 4,200 acres of the oil-rich Lombardi Sands and Aurignac Sands formations, more than 1,800 feet underground. Since it was discovered in 1947, the San Ardo Field has produced more than 2 billion barrels of oil. It is the eighth-most productive oilfield in California. Oil industry representatives estimate they can recover another 850 million barrels of oil from San Ardo over the next 100 years. That is, if they are allowed to continue with the business of drilling as usual. In 2016, Monterey County voters delivered a clear message at the ballot box: With 56 percent of the vote, the citizen ballot initiative Measure Z passed, banning fracking, new oil wells and wastewater injection. While fracking is not a practice in use in Monterey County’s oilfields (due to the geology), without the ability to drill new wells and inject wastewater, the industry cannot operate as it has since the 1950s. Despite the passage of Measure Z, the industry has argued (and prevailed) in court battles as to whether those provisions of the ballot measure are permissible. Operators Aera, Chevron, Eagle Petroleum and Trio Petroleum, as well as private property owners who earn royalties from those operators, sued to challenge Measure Z. In 2018, Monterey County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wills upheld the fracking ban, but overturned the rest, enabling the oil industry to continue operating. The group behind the ballot measure, Protect Monterey County, appealed and lost in 2021. They petitioned again to the California Supreme Court. Now, six-and-a-half years after voters delivered a resounding no to continued oil operations in Monterey County, the state Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments in the case at 1:30pm on Thursday, May 25. (The hearing is remote, and PMC will livestream it and host rallies starting at noon outside the county government building at 168 W. Alisal St., Salinas and in the Peace and Justice Center at 1354 Fremont Blvd., Seaside.) “We’re very excited—this is what we’ve been waiting for,” says Laura Solorio, one of the architects of the measure and president of Protect Monterey County. “Measure Z is still alive.” One of the oil industry contentions is that proponents of the measure misled voters, emphasizing the fracking ban alone. Solorio says whatever happens at court, the organizing effort will be remembered as a success, in large part because of extensive conversations advocates had with voters. “This was not a two-minute conversation, it was often a 15-minute conversation. It was an education about oil production,” she says. But what the Supreme Court will weigh is less likely to be about what voters intended than it is to be about technicalities. Specifically at issue is California’s Public Resources Code section 3106, which grants authority to the state when it comes to oil operations. The California Constitution grants local jurisdictions to make policy, so long as that policy is “not in conflict with general laws.” According to attorney Edward Shield Renwick, who represents 80-plus South County property owners who collect royalties from oil operations on their land, that’s the rub. “The law is the law and the state Constitution is the state Constitution,” he says. “Counties have no power to regulate on statewide matters—only local matters.” While Monterey County itself has become just a bystander in this case—the county declined to participate in the appeal process, leaving Protect Monterey County on its own—other local government jurisdictions have taken a strong interest. The League of California Cities, State Association of Counties and Los Angeles County filed a brief in support of PMC. A loss for PMC, they argue in a court brief, “would undermine well-settled legal principles, create confusion and litigation risk, and chill rightful exercises of local authority.” Of course, the court hearing will likely be about some combination of these things—legal definitions over technical matters (where state and local decision-making begin and end) and taking of property. It is less likely to be about the thing voters actually considered, which is the big picture of whether oil extraction should continue to hold a place in our energy economy. Sara Rubin is the Weekly’s editor. Reach her at sara@mcweekly.com. Oil and Water Measure Z, an initiative limiting oil development, heads to Supreme Court. By Sara Rubin NOISES OFF…Squid heard a faint sound of optimism from Salinas and paused to investigate. It was emanating from the 2022-2023 Monterey County Civil Grand Jury and its first report of the year entitled, “Sleepless in Monterey County.” It’s illustrated by a Microsoft stock photo of an old-school hi-fi system with knobs that—This is Spinal Tap fans will be disappointed to know—only go to “10” and not the band’s co-lead guitarist Nigel Tufnel’s preferred “11.” The report was the volunteer jury’s attempt at taking things up to an “11” on county officials, dinging them for failing to adequately enforce the county’s noise ordinance in rural areas. The jurors found that staffing issues were part of the problem, along with property owners renting their land to promoters who host large, for-profit events without proper permits, among other problems. Jurors specifically called out the Monterey County Board of Supervisors for being ineffective in resolving the issue. Squid found the optimism of jurors amusing, as they rattled off eight recommendations with deadlines for fixes between July 31 and Dec. 31. Funniest of all was the Dec. 31 deadline to impose stricter fines and penalties for repeat offenders. Expecting the supervisors to suddenly go from a low volume all the way to “11” within six months is what Squid would call the definition of magical thinking. IN-N-OUT…When Squid travels, Squid likes to stick around for a while, get to know the vibe, the people, the lay of the land. And the same goes for Squid’s workplace—you can’t make much headway doing journalism in Monterey County if you’re only passing through. With that said, Squid was shocked, but not surprised, that Trevin Barber, who until May 19 was the city manager of Gonzales, stepped away from the job after only four months. The official reason, per a statement, was to “focus his career on finance and economic development while spending more time with his family.” Barber was selected from a pool of 35 applicants after a months-long search conducted by Bob and Murray & Associates following the departure of Rene Mendez, who after 17 years left for Watsonville last June. Barber’s last position was assistant city manager and economic development in the city of Seaside, which he officially left in September of last year after just over a year on the job (several months of which he was on leave, for unspecified reasons). Barber says this journey all relates back to his childhood, which included a time that his dad landed a part-time job working for Rite-Aid between other things; Barber credits city leaders for having recruited the Rite-Aid distribution center to begin with. “That’s my North Star,” he says. “I owe a debt to society and I intend to pay it back with my career.” Squid hopes his next stint lasts a little longer. THE LOCAL SPIN SQUID FRY THE MISSION OF MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY IS TO INSPIRE INDEPENDENT THINKING AND CONSCIOUS ACTION, ETC. “Measure Z is still alive.” SEND SQUID A TIP: squid@mcweekly.com
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