SALINAS – A Monterey County judge has delayed implementation of Measure Z — which limits oil operations in Monterey County — while two lawsuits aimed at stopping it altogether are resolved in the courts.
The stay was granted on Wednesday — just as the lawsuits from the country’s largest oil producers were filed — and it will help county officials focus on the “big picture” issues rather than getting tangled up on daily bureaucratic procedures, an attorney for the county said.
“We wanted to be sure we could address the main issues at stake here and not be sidetracked by side issues such as seeking an injunction or restraining order,” County Counsel Charles McKee said. “The oil industry wanted (a restriction) from implementing Measure Z and fighting that could have taken significant resources and taken away from real issues as to whether (the measure) is valid.”
The court-ordered stay will not apply to fracking or re-injection of wastewater into the ground, which will not be allowed until the lawsuits are resolved, McKee said.
Two lawsuits were filed on behalf of three of the largest oil producers in the United States against the measure, which bans the use of the hydraulic fracturing technique known as fracking, as well as acidization and other enhanced methods and also prohibits drilling new wells, and phases out wastewater impoundment and injection over the next five to 15 years. One lawsuit was filed by Chevron Corp. and the second one by Aera Energy LLC, co-owned by affiliates of Shell Mobil Co. and ExxonMobil. The corporations spent more than $5 million fighting the measure, which was approved by 56 percent of the voters.
The lawsuits are attacking Measure Z on three fronts: that it infringes upon the corporations’ vested right to continue developing the San Ardo field, that the measure constitutes taking property without just compensation, and that regulation of oil and gas production should be done at the state and federal level, not at the county level.
“We filed this lawsuit to protect our workers, our legal rights and our many stakeholders in Monterey County that rely on Aera,” Christina Sistrunk, Aera president and CEO, said in a prepared statement. “Measure Z won’t just hurt our company. It will inflict significant unnecessary hardship on our employees and their families, as well as on Monterey County and its citizens, by exporting good jobs and essential revenues out of the county and into foreign countries.”
Jim Eggleston, an attorney representing Protect Monterey County, said the group will stand with Monterey County in its fight against the plaintiffs.
“Their lawsuit is based on an outrageous claim that the oil companies have an absolute right to engage in unlimited gas and oil production without regulation,” he said. The lawsuit pretends that “their business plan is superior and overrides the intrinsic right of Monterey County to protect its natural resources and to protect its people. They claim a vested right to dump water in the aquifer.”
Monterey County is the fourth largest oil-producing county in California, according to Aera. Nearly all crude oil and natural gas produced in Monterey County comes from the San Ardo oil field in the unincorporated southern part of the county. According to the Department of Conservation’s Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources, oil production in San Ardo was 7.8 million barrels in 2015, making it the 13th largest producing field in California, and the 46th largest field in the United States. Aera is one of the largest operators in the San Ardo oil field, with approximately 5,050 acres.
“Measure Z requires that practice to be phased out in five years minimum and 15 years maximum. The litigation we’ll enter into and the stay of Measure Z should not impact the phase out of the wastewater process if Measure Z is found to be valid,” McKee said. “At this time, we’re very confident we have strong case to defend Measure Z.”
Claudia Meléndez Salinas can be reached at 831-726-4370.
